
Class. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 




Thk Alamo, San Antonio 
"Thernioiiyhc had lior messenger of defeat; the Alamo had none' 



THE BO 
OF TEXA 





..A 


.,^^ 


H. 


Y. 


BENEDICT 

AND 


JOHN A. LOMAX 



OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS 




Fully Illustrated 



GARDEN CITY NEW YORK 

DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 
1916 






CojpyrigJd, 1016, by 
DOUBLEDAY, PaGE & COMPANY 

All rights reserved, including that of 

translation into foreign languages, 

including the Scandinavian 




m 19 1316 

©ci,A4;n5i9 
1^ / ' 



PREFACE 

Written for the general reader, this book makes no pre- 
tence to avoid colloquiahsms or to be serious throughout. 
Jokes and stories that throw Hght upon Texas and her people 
have been freely inserted. But nothing of a humorous 
flavor has been put in for its own sake only, because, as far 
as may be accomplished within the narrow compass of a 
single volume, an earnest effort has here been made to 
describe Texas. As a consequence, the following pages 
abound in statements of fact. This book is less than a 
scientific and detailed treatise; on the other hand, let us hope, 
it is more than a collection of random remarks made by 
superficial and facetious observers. 

That perfect truth has been attained in stating facts is not 
to be expected. The subject is so vast and varied, the 
sources of information are so numerous and scattered, and in 
cases so unreliable, that mistakes and omissions are practi- 
cally unavoidable. Doubtless many specific errors may be 
discovered in what follows; doubtless some matters have 
been given too much space and others too little. In spite of 
defects all too obvious, in spite of having been written from 
the biased standpoint of Texans, this book has been pre- 
pared with very careful attention to Things as They Are. 
It is possible to hope, therefore, that Texas has been de- 



vi PREFACE 

scribed, inadequately of course, but with reasonable faith- 
fulness. 

Necessity has forced too much dealing with material 
things. Art, music, literature, are still in their infancy. It 
is only recently and partially that Texas has emerged from 
the pioneer stage. Even industrial Texas is as yet but a 
young Hercules. There are, however, the healthy begin- 
nings of an intellectual and artistic life, all of the flowers of 
civilization are preparing to burst into bloom. The shadows 
of great events are being cast in advance; to-day promises a 
still more glorious to-morrow. 

A book of this character can claim but little originality. 
All of its facts, many of its opinions, most of its jokes and 
anecdotes, have been gathered from sources too varied to 
be more than partly acknowledged in a list of names to 
be found in the Appendix. Much information has been 
obtained in letters from persons intimately acquainted with 
certain details. 

*'They knew 'e stole, 'e knew they knowed." 
The only merits that this book may possibly possess must 
depend upon the selection and arrangement of the material, 
upon the presentation of big and little facts in proper pro- 
portion, upon a truthfulness that makes no effort to hide 
faults or to display virtues. 

"Prefaces ever were and still are of two sorts: . . . still 
the author keeps to his old and wonted method of prefacing, 
when at the beginning of his book, he enters, either with a 



PREFACE vii 

halter about his neck, submitting himself to his reader's 
mercy whether he shall be hanged or no; or else in a huffing 
manner he appears, with a halter in his hand, and threatens 
to hang his reader if he gives him not his good word." As 
dear Elliott Coues once wrote, the authors desire neither to 
hang nor to be hanged ; they wish they were better than they 
are for their own sake; they wish their book were better than 
it is for their reader's sake. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface v 

Introduction xvii 



PART I 
THE ANNALS OF A STATE 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Under Spain and France 3 

II. The Coming of the People 10 

III. Peaceful Development 28 

PART II 
THE PEOPLE 

I. Their Number and Distribution 43 

II. Their Nationality and Characteristics ... 52 

PART III 
THE COUNTRY 

I. The Land 63 

II. The Climate 76 

III. The Wild Life 89 

PART IV 

THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE WITH THE PRODUCTS 

OF THE LAND 

I. Occupations 109 

II. Agriculture 118 

III. King Cotton 129 

iz 



X CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IV. From Corn to Cauliflowers 150 

V. Texas Cattle in Free-grass Days . . . . 166 

VI. From Horses to Bees 189 

VII. Turning the Waters 200 

VIII. Harvesting the Timber 209 

IX. Mining 218 

X. Manufacturing 233 

XI. Transportation 241 

XII. The Trade of the Cities 261 

XIII. Exports and Imports 270 

XIV. The Material Wealth of Texas .... 275 

PART V 

PROGRESS AND ITS PROBLEMS 

I. Banking 283 

II. The Granger Movement 30-1 

III. Farm Tenantry 324 

IV. Community Life 339 

V. The Cities and Towns 354 

VI. Education 362 A 

VII. The. Churches 384 

VIII. The Newspapers 400 

IX. Union Labor and Life Insurance .... 405 

X. Prohibition and Local Option 410 

XI. Women's Organizations 414 

XII. The Case of the Railroads 423 

XIII. Politics and Political Leaders 429 

Appendix 447 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

The Alamo, San Antonio Frontispiece 

Facing Page 

A Typical Fort Worth Residence 22 

A View of the Alamo Plaza, San Antonio 22 

Prominent Texans 23 

Albert Sidney Burleson 

Thomas Watt Gregory 

Edward M. House 

V. W. Grubbs 

Robert Scott Lovett 
Prominent Texans SO 

R. Waverly Smith 

John H, Kirby 

Geo. W. Brackenridge 

R. M. Johnston 

George W. Littlefield 31 ' 

Granite Mountain Near Marble Falls 66 

Southern End of Elephant Head, Brewster County 66 

Southeast End of the Diablo Mountains, El Paso County ... 67 
Sotol or Bear Grass, an iVbundant Desert Plant of the Agave Area . 67 

A Typical Barb Wire and Mesquite Post Fence 82 

Grand Falls in Winter 82 

The Trinity River at Lock and Dam No. 1 83 

A View of the Trinity River Near Dallas at Flood Time ... 83 
Indian Blankets on the Campus of the A. & M. College of Texas . 86 
A Photograph of Wild Deer Made in Southwest Texas ... 86 
Rain Lilies on University of Texas Campus, Austin .... 86 
The Green Juicy Leaves (Really the Stems) of the Cactus Bear 

Large, Protective, Needlelike Spines 87 

xi 



xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing Page 
Selective Breeding Has Given Rise to a Spineless and Stickerless 

Cultivated Cactus 87 

A Mexican Singeing the Spines and Stickers from the Growing Wild 

Cactus with a Gasolene Torch 87 

Cattalos, Palled Angus Half Breeds from Buffalo Cows .... 94 

Three Texas Insects with Bad Reputations 95 

Two Foes of the Texas Farmer lO'^ 

A 2,000 Pound Ray Fish Caught off Galveston Jetties .... 103 

A Day's Catch of Silver King Tarpons 103 

Irrigated Cotton in the Lower Rio Grande Valley 130 

A Typical Example of the Country Gin 130 

A Cotton Patch After the Leaves Have Dropped and Exposed the 

Opened and Unopened Bolls 131 

Platform Loaded with 7,863 Bales of Cotton at Compress at Tex- 

arkana 146 

A Texas Industrial Congress Demonstration Crop of Corn . , . 147 

Feterita on the State Experiment Farm at Chillicothe .... 150 

Six Tons of Alfalfa per Acre 151 

Sudan Grass, State Experiment Station 151 

Hauling Sugar Cane to Market, Lower Rio Grande Valley . . . 151 

Loading Potatoes in Field Near Houston 151 

Cabbage in the Rio Grande Valley in March 158 

Gathering Lettuce Near San Benito 158 

Twenty-eight Halbert Pecans in Three Clusters Grown on Buds 

Three Years Old 159 , 

Fig Tree of H. G. Stilwell at San Benito 166 

Chinese Jujubes from the Orchard of F. T. Ramsey and Sons, 

Austin 166 

Grapefruit in the Rio Grande Valley 167 

"And Woe to the Rider, and Woe to the Steed, Who Falls in Front 

of the Mad Stampede" 168 

A Few Surviving Longhorns 169 

Water Tank and Cattle 169 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii 

Facing Page 
Hereford Cattle and Cowboys Taking It Easy at a Water Hole in 

the Panhandle 172 

A Modern Ranch with Comfortable Houses and Barns Not Far from 

Fort Worth 173 

Mexican Cattle Fording the Rio Grande as They Are Being Driven 

into Texas 174 

Cattle Swimming Through a Dipping Vat 175 

Buyers and Sellers Examining Cattle at the Fort Worth Stock Yards 178 

Santa Gertrudis, Near Kingsville 179 

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot, Cuero, Texas 194 

A Uvalde County Apiary 195 

Flume, 26 by 11 Feet, on the Rio Grande 200 

Reinforced Concrete Flume on Main Canal Near Mercedes . . . 200 

Irrigating Onions at Harlingen 201 

One of the Shallow Artesian Wells at Lubbock 201 

Medina Irrigation Co. Dam 201 

Typical Longleaf Pine of the Texas-Louisiana Region . . . 204 

Cypress Swamp 205 

Long Train at the Dewey ville Plant of the Sabine Tram Company . 205 
Transporting Longleaf Yellow Pine Logs by Water in Southeast 

Texas 205 

The Beatty Well at Spindletop 226 

A Few of the 1,200 Derricks at the Spindletop Oil Field ... 227 

Oil Tank on Fire at Beaumont 230 

Man-way, Mine No. 5, American Lignite Briquette Co., Big Lump, 

Milam County 231 

Salt Basin, Guadalupe Mountains in the Distance, El Paso County 238 

Pumping Sulphur Out of the Groimd 238 

Pecos High Bridge, Southern Pacific Railroad 239 

A Portion of the Texas and Pacific Tracks at Fort Worth . . . 242 

Hauling Wool to Kerrville 243 

Galveston Causeway 243 

Oil and Lumber Going Out at Port Arthur 243 



xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing Page 

A Partial View of Fort Worth 258 

View in Business Section of Dallas 258 

Panoramic View of Downtown Section of Houston 259 

Looking North Over the Central Business District of the City of 

San Antonio 259 

Large Reinforced Concrete Office Building Built by Brig. Gen . 

Anson Mills, U. S. A 274 

The Busch Building, Dallas 274 

The Amicable Insurance Building 274 

Rice Hotel, Houston, Texas 275 

Henry Exall 306 

Prize Winners in Texas Industrial Congress Crop Raising Contests 322 
Gordon E. Norman 
Wallace IMcGehee 
Emma D. Stokes 
J. L. Norris 

Andrew Carey S2S 

Billie Minter 
Edna and Louise Taylor 
Annie Lou Darby 
Main Building and Cadet Corps of Agricultural and Mechanical 

College, College Station, Texas 370 

University of Texas Library 370 

Carnegie Library, Fort Worth, Texas 371 

Rosenberg Library, Galveston, Texas 371 

Prominent College Presidents 386 

Edgar Odell Lovett 
F. M. Bralley 
W. B. Bizzell 
Samuel Palmer Brooks 
Dr. R. J. Hyer 

Prominent Ministers 387 

Rev. R. E. Vinson 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv 

Facing Page 

Rev. George W. Truett 387 ^ 

Rev. W. D. Biadfield 

Rev. James M. Kirwin 

San Fernando Cathedral, San Antonio 402 

George B. Dealey 403 i^. 

Dallas Neivs Building, Dallas 403 "^^ 

Two Prominent Texas Women 418 '^ 

Mrs. Helen Marr Kirby 

Mrs. Percy V. Pennybacker 

Old Style Texas Court House 419 

New Type of Concrete Court House, Edinburg, Hidalgo County . 419 , 

Governor James Stephen Hogg 440 

Governor James E. Ferguson 441 

Maps will be found in the text, on pages: 46, 57, 64, 65, 66, 67, 71, 
72, 77, 90, 93, 144, 210, 412. 



INTRODUCTION 

"If you could git on a perch som'ers and see things like dey really is an' nut 
like dey seem to us, I be boun' you'd hoi' yo' breff an' shet yo' eyes." — Uncle 
Remus. 

Fortunately for the reputations of those who write or talk 
of Texas, it is next to impossible to tell lies about her; almost 
anj^thing that may be said is true somewhere, some time. 
Tell of beetling cliffs where eagles scarce may find a perch 
and of plains so level that rainwater cannot drain away, tell 
of sudden cloudbursts and of almost endless droughts, of 
huge crops and of famine, of boiling heat and freezing cold, 
of luxuriant woodlands and bare deserts, of immense cattle 
ranches and small truck farms, of flourishing cities and un- 
inhabited wastes, of soil without rocks and rocks without 
soil, of long railways and trackless plains, of dry rivers and 
turbid floods, of jewelled humming-birds and repulsive vul- 
tures, of tropic fruits and northern pines, of pistol-toting 
desperadoes and self-sacrificing preachers, of beautiful li- 
braries and towns without books, of million-dollar hotels and 
dirt-covered dugouts — tell a thousand contradictory things 
about Texas, and if you seem to lie it is not because of what 
you have said but because you have told only a part of 
the truth. George Washington, had he been a Texan, 
would have found it doubly impossible to tell a lie about 
Texas. 



xviii INTRODUCTION 

Stretching halfway from Mexico to Canada and a third of 
the distance from the Atlantic to the Pacific, covering a 
twelfth of the United States, rising in elevation from sea- 
level to almost 9,000 feet, ranging from quite humid to quite 
arid and from 115° in the shade to 16° below in the sun, pos- 
sessing thousands of square miles of desert and millions of 
acres of soil of unsurpassed fertility, blessed with a fair pro- 
portion of mineral w^ealth, located at the meeting of East and 
West, reaching south almost to the Tropics, containing most 
of the great life zones of North America, sparsely inhabited 
by some four millions of people, rapidly increasing in pop- 
ulation and wealth and civilization, Texas is a land of amaz- 
ing contrasts. 

It is quite the fashion in Texas to speak of "our imperial 
commonwealth" and to compare it in size with New England 
and other lesser portions of the surface of the earth, greatly 
to the implied disadvantage of many excellent regions. In 
fact, Texas exceeds New England in area, with New York, 
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and the 
two Virginias thrown in for good measure. Texas is slightly 
larger than Austria-Hungary or England and France, or 
England and Germany, appreciably larger than Spain and 
Portugal, over twice as large as Italy, and almost exactly 
three times as large as Great Britain. Such are the com- 
parisons dear to your patriotic Texan, who never says any- 
thing about Arabia which is over four, or about Brazil which 
is just twelve, or about Siberia which is nearly twenty times 



INTRODUCTION xk 

as large as Texas. In arranging a contest it is well to pick 
your opponent with care. 

From Texarkana in the northeastern comer to El Paso in 
the western it is farther than from New York to Chicago. 
The distance from Brownsville in the southern corner to 
Texline in the northwestern exceeds that from Tampa to 
Washington. Take a map of the United States and with a 
pair of compasses stretched from Texarkana to El Paso draw 
a circle with Texarkana as a centre; perhaps you will be 
astonished to see the circle cut across Lake Michigan. Use 
the distance from Brownsville to Texline as a radius and El 
Paso as a centre, and the circle runs far out into the Pacific 
Ocean. Made into a square, Texas would have sides a little 
over five hundred miles in length. Texas is not as long as, 
but is much broader than, California, her nearest competitor 
in area among the states. She exceeds California in size 
by more than 100,000 square miles. 

A fearsome combination of spiny cactus and thorny shrub, 
of stinging lizard and vinegarroon, of centipede and rattle- 
snake, of Gila monster and black tarantula, of large red ant 
and "hydrophobia" skunk, may be selected from the Texas 
fauna to make a witches' cauldron amply suflBcient to petrify 
gullible greenhorns and long-eared tourists with terror. 
Yet if accident insurance companies were to insure, "free, 
gratis, and for nothing" against damage from these un- 
pleasant natives they would not lose much money. Killing 
noxious animals when he meets them, picking its thorns 



XX INTRODUCTION 

from his skin when he accidently colHdes with a cactus, the 
Texan goes on his way rejoicing and unharmed. Mocking- 
birds singing in feathery mesquites, vultures soaring at vast 
altitudes in cloudless skies, scissor-tail fly-catchers quarrel- 
ling in mid-air, lark sparrows scattered over the short grass 
prairies, doves cooing endlessly everywhere, chaparral birds 
running across the roads, killdeers by the ponds, cattle 
grazing or at rest under the " mottes " of trees with cow birds 
about them, rabbits crouching by the roadside, prairie dogs 
barking on their mounds, thousands of acres of prairie 
flowers, millions of yellow blooming mesquite and still 
yellower huisache, tall pine forests and duck-covered 
swamps, fields white with the opening cotton and golden with 
the ripening wheat and corn and oats, cattle on the prairies, 
pecan and other trees along the river banks where sits the 
summer fisherman, tarpon leaping six feet out of the Gulf 
when hooked by the skilful angler, buttermilk and corn- 
bread and thick pot-licker, soft breezes blowing over hill and 
dale, hot mid-days and cool nights, long summers and short 
winters, bull-bats booming at dusk, frogs and crickets and 
katydids and mocking-birds and chuck-will-widows and owls 
crying in the night, hundred-pound watermelons and long 
juicy roasting ears, "garden truck" without limit in amount 
or variety — to such things the Texan is accustomed. As 
everywhere, in Texas good and bad are to be found contem- 
poraneously and successively, the rose and the thorn go to- 
gether, and, as once said by a postprandial Texas orator, 



INTRODUCTION xxi 

'*The song of the mocking-bird keeps me from hearing the 
boll weevil bowling at the cotton-boll." 

Varied the land and various the people! Viewed here and 
there by Spaniards and Frenchmen of the age of exploration, 
dotted sparsely with Spanish missions in the eighteenth 
century, Texas was left almost entirely to the aboriginal 
Comanche, Apache, Karankawa, Tejas, and other Indian 
tribes until the nineteenth century was well under way. 
Then in ever-increasing swarms came the Anglo-American, 
bringing his colored Afro- American with him, and the in- 
evitable conflict between the English and Spanish civiliza- 
tions, thus brought into contact, broke out almost at once, 
and resulted in Texas soon becoming one of the United 
States. Six flags have waved over Texas — the fleur-de-lis of 
France, the banner of Spain, the flag of the Mexican Repub- 
lic, the Lone Star flag that floated when Texas, alone among 
her sister states, was for a brief space an independent re- 
public; the Stars and Stripes of the American Union; and, for 
a short while only, the Stars and Bars of the Southern 
Confederacy. 

Of the Indians less than one thousand are left. To the 
few Spaniards and Mexicans and Americans of the days of 
the Republic of Texas immigration has added a mighty 
swarm of Southerners and a large number of Northerners, 
Germans, Bohemians, English, Irish, Italians, Swedes, and a 
sprinkling from every other European country. From these, 
of course, have come many native Texans. The state is 



xxii INTRODUCTION 

more ** American than the United States as a whole, despite 
the fact that one-sixth of the population is negro and another 
sixth is German and Mexican. The earliest European in- 
habitants were Spanish soldiers, monks, and pioneers; the 
next were American frontiersmen. These last were quickly 
followed by settlers from the older states, by Germans and 
more Americans. All came as a part of that westward move- 
ment whose story is the major part of American history. 
All came because a fair land offering golden opportunities 
lay spread before them, and for the same reason many others 
yet unborn will come. American with a large European 
element. Southern, of course, rather than Northern in flavor, 
but with a strong spice of the West, Texas stands to-day — as 
described by Yancey Lewis, one of her noblest and truest 
orators — a *' great commonwealth, marked out by area, by 
climatic conditions, by physical environment, and by the in- 
dwelling spirit of its people, for empire," a "huge leviathan 
among the states, not yet articulate, not yet having the unity 
of its highest purpose, nor wrought to its best hope, but 
destined ultimately, in my view, to speak with the strongest 
and most individual voice of all our states." 

As best it can this book tells of Texas. A complete, even 
an approximate, description is impossible; the totality in- 
cluded under the name of Texas is too vast to be arranged in 
correct proportion and woven into an easily intelligible and 
therefore not overcrowded picture. To depict Texas how- 
ever dimly in a single volume it is necessary to paint with a 



INTRODUCTION xxiii 

broad brush and yet sometimes to show important details 
with the truthfulness of a miniature. A true account of the 
coming of her people into the broad land of Texas would be a 
great epic; a true picture of the work of her people to-day 
would be a gigantic panorama. All that this book can hope 
to do is to present, inadequately but not untruthfully, some 
lines of the epic and some scenes of the panorama; to deal 
briefly and imperfectly with big and significant things with- 
out neglecting details that possess local color and human 
interest. 



PART I 

THE ANNALS OF A STATE 

"And across the lonely prairies there comes a tale of woe 
From Guadalupe's azure tide to the fatal Alamo." 

— Frontier Song. 



CHAPTER I 

UNDER SPAIN AND FRANCE 

"By various influences and agents the Past is summoned before us, more vivid 
than a dream. The process seems as magical as those whereof we read in fairy 
legends, where circles are drawn, wands waved, mystic syllables pronounced. 
Adjured by these rites, voices speak, or forms and faces shape themselves 
from nothing. So, through certain influences not magical at all, our brains 
are made to flash with visions of other days." — Owen Wister. 

ONE hundred years ago there was scarcely a handful 
of white men in that section of North America 
now known as Texas, and these were not per- 
manent settlers. The entire region was virgin soil popu- 
lated only by Indians and a few Spanish soldiers, and over- 
run by wild cattle, mustang ponies, countless herds of 
buffalo, deer, antelope, wolves, and other wild animals. The 
passage of a century has converted the vast region west of the 
Mississippi into states, Texas alone containing four and a half 
millions of people and seven billions of wealth. To describe 
the raw material, the people, and the land; to picture the 
transformation that has been wrought in Texas during this 
time, particularly in its important and dramatic aspects; to 
trace, however inadequately, in small compass the result of 
the action of the people upon the land and its resources, and 
the results of the action of the people upon themselves until 
they have won some individuality and definable characteris- 
tics, is what the writers of this volume have undertaken. It 
is the old and well-known story of man either conquering or 
adapting himself to the forces of nature. 

8 



4 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Conventional history is too often inclined to concern itself 
mainly with dates, wars, and with the names and careers of 
military and political leaders, together with incidents which 
have little or nothing to do with the real development of a 
country. Texas, for example, is perhaps no whit different 
from what it would have been had La Salle not explored it in 
early times and died within its confines, or had the Spaniards 
Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado not wandered over its track- 
less plains in the early years of the seventeenth century. 
Even such men as Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, 
however important their place in history, did not make 
Texas. The destiny of a state is seldom embodied in one 
man. In the first place, the state is what it is because of the 
natural conditions that have existed; and, in the second place, 
because of the general character of the people who have 
settled within its borders. 

The records of any historian, however impartial, must 
nevertheless of necessity seem a form of hero worship. 
In the history of Texas many individuals stand out above 
their fellows as superior in bravery, in resourcefulness, and 
in other qualities of leadership. However hard we try to 
set down the bare facts, the halo of romance creeps into 
the story and glorifies such names as La Salle, the restless 
Frenchman; Coronado, the enterprising Spanish gold hun- 
ter; Stephen F. Austin, the patient, unselfish father of a 
new republic, who died early in life through exposure in 
her service; Travis, the commander of the group of heroes 
in the Alamo; General Sam Houston, brave and impas- 
sioned leader of men, in defeat taciturn as an Indian; 
Mirabeau B. Lamar, gifted orator and friend of enlighten- 



UNDER SPAIN AND FRANCE 5 

ment through piibhc education; O. M. Roberts, the "Old 
Alcalde" and "Pay as You Go" Governor, Chief Justice 
of the Supreme Court, law professor in the University of 
Texas; John H. Reagan, Postmaster-General of the Con- 
federate Cabinet, Member of Congress, U. S. Senator, 
first head of the Texas Railroad Commission; James 
Stephen Hogg, Texas' greatest Governor, progressive states- 
man, and friend of the people; George W. Brackenridge, 
Henry Rosenberg, and William M. Rice, philanthropists; 
Henry Exall, evangel of scientific farming; T. V. Munson, 
honored by the French Government for achievement in 
grape culture. To the memory of the men who founded 
colleges in places where the Indian war whoop yet sounded; 
to those who preached the gospel, who healed the sick, 
who framed the laws, who cleared the land and blazed the 
way for the millions who now live between the Rio Grande 
and Red rivers — romance and story and song and drama 
will yet arise, fit and commensurate. 

The events that have affected the lives of a people, the 
difficulties they have overcome, the deeds they have wrought, 
the battles they have fought, the institutions they have set 
up — all these help us to know what the people are. The 
annals of a people faithfully recorded make the past live 
again and show us, if not the people themselves, the results 
of their actions. So, poring over the story of their 
brave deeds and peering behind the framework of govern- 
mental and social machinery they have invented, in- 
herited, or modified; the record of their war with nature 
and their clashes with each other, we may come to know 



6 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

something of the real people. The Earth and the People: 
what the Earth held in store and what the People did 
with its riches and to each other, — these are the vital 
elements in history, the moving pictures of the past 
thrown on the screen that enable those of the present to 
vision what has gone before. Let us see first how Texas 
was possessed by the white race and by what means the 
peoples were welded into that semblance of unity which is 
termed a state. 

Some of the incidents are mentioned partly because they 
occurred in Texas territory and not because they influenced 
the life of the state as it now is. In setting them out we 
shall consciously emphasize the particular contributions that 
Texas seems to have made to the sum total of human prog- 
ress. The general growth of the state has been, on the 
whole, not unlike that of other Western commonwealths. 
It does, however, possess some individual characteristics. 
For example, six different flags have waved over its fortunes, 
one of them the Lone Star while Texas was for nearly ten 
years a free and independent republic; her independence 
was won by a successfully waged revolution; the state has 
maintained until now a citizen soldiery known as the Texas 
Rangers. The Railroad Commission, a widely copied home- 
stead law, the commission form of government, a lavish 
land and bonded endowment for the free public school 
system, are other illustrative examples of noteworthy con- 
tributions. So the story shall be interlarded with references 
to what Texas has originated, that the narrative may not 
lose its declared intention of singing the glories of the 
state. 



UNDER SPAIN AND FRANCE 7 

Within thirty -five years after Cohimbus discovered Amer- 
ica the first white man set foot on Texas soil. He belonged to 
an exploring party of Spaniards, Conquistadores, men of like 
mold with Cortez and his companions, who sailed from Cuba 
and were wrecked on the coast off Galveston. Other 
Spanish gold-hunting bands traversed portions of Texas 
during the next century and a half, but made no efforts to 
establish permanent settlements. In 1682 La Salle, a 
Frenchman, coming down from Canada to the mouth of the 
Mississippi River, set up a claim to all the land (Louisiana) 
drained by the river. Later driven west in a storm while he 
was trying to reach the mouth of the Mississippi from France 
some of his ships w^ere lost, and the others returned to France. 
He thereupon built Fort St. Louis, the first attempt at a per- 
manent settlement in Texas. La Salle was afterward killed 
by one of his own men. Others of his party died of smallpox 
and malarial fever, were killed by the Indians, or murdered 
each other in the diverting pastime of duelling. So thoroughly 
was the site of his fort ultimately lost, after the Spaniards 
burned it, that a college professor only rediscovered it in 
1914. The French made other more permanent settlements 
in Louisiana and Alabama which later gave La Salle's 
claim to the Mississippi Valley real standing. Northeast of 
La Salle's Texas fort lived the Tejas (Ta'has) Indians, who 
for some time harbored four of his unfortunate companions, 
and whose tribal designation finally grew into the name 
of Texas. Among these Indians Spanish priests, sent 
with the Spanish soldiers who destroyed Fort St. Louis, 
built a church on Texas soil, the first of a chain of mission 
church buildings, the beautiful ruins of some yet serving 



8 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

as attractions for tourists. Along with these missions es- 
tabhshed to Christianize the Indians, the Spaniards some- 
times built forts, as at San Antonio, to hold the country 
against the French. In east Texas the forts at Nacogdoches 
and vicinity were abandoned, the first time because of the 
attacks of the French from Louisiana, and again in 1762, 
when France ceded to Spain her claim on all the region west 
of the Mississippi River. Seventeen years afterward the 
Spaniards again took possession of Nacogdoches. Nearly 
two hundred years of occupation had, by 1800, yielded only 
the net results of three permanent settlements in Texas, — San 
Antonio, Nacogdoches, and Goliad, the latter being the 
legitimate offspring of Fort St. Louis. \Miat barren results 
and of what insignificant influence on the development of 
Texas — when it really started to grow! 

When France regained the territory ceded to Spain and 
sold it to the United States in 1803, its western boundary was 
uncertain. In 1806 an agreement between General James 
Wilkinson, that picturesque rascal who commanded the 
United States army in the west, and General Herrera estab- 
lished a neutral strip between the Arroyo Hondo and the Sa- 
bine. This No Man's Land thereafter became a convenient 
and safe harborage for adventurers and desperadoes who in 
their expeditions into Texas brought back information about 
its advantages that made others covet its possession. In- 
dependent forays were organized by different groups of these 
restless characters in efforts to take Texas away from Spain, 
while about the same time the French pirate, Jean Lafitte, 
found Galveston Island a safe harborage. Lafitte and his 
pirates and the men that infested No Man's Land did two 



UNDER SPAIN AND FRANCE 9 

things for Texas: they introduced knowledge of it to the 
United States and they first gave it the bad name which 
added undue weight to a famous remark made by Phil Sher- 
idan after the Civil War, while he was stationed in an arid 
locality in Texas. 



CHAPTER II 

THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 

"I have never stooped to any man, and when lam in my grave . . . bury 
me with my face to the setting sun. I have been all my life travelling west- 
ward and I want to face that way when I die." — Brit Bailey's Epitaph. 

T)XAS was not settled by Americans through forci- 
ble occupation. Just before Mexico won its in- 
dependence from Spain, in 1821, Moses Austin 
secured permission through the Spanish Governor at San 
Antonio to bring three hundred families to Texas. His son, 
Stephen F. Austin, a young man twenty-seven years of age, 
carried out the contract, offering each settler six hundred and 
forty acres of choice land at twelve and one-half cents an 
acre. These families he settled on the Brazos River, one of 
the three principal streams in the state, about one hundred 
miles from the Gulf of Mexico. After Mexico had gained her 
independence from Spain a general law was passed inviting 
immigration to Texas. To every married man was offered a 
league of land (4,428 acres), while a bonus of 23,000 acres was 
given to anybody who would bring with him one hundred 
families. Austin, the first to undertake the work, made con- 
tracts to bring in an additional fifteen hundred families, while 
a dozen other contracts for a smaller number of families were 
made by other individuals. At least one enthusiast pe- 
titioned to settle one hundred and fifty Mexican families in 
the state. The greater number of these colonists were from 
Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia; though some 

10 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 1] 

came from New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Ohio. 
People of all classes came. The Southern cotton planter 
moved due west overland in covered wagons, called 
prairie schooners, bringing with him his slaves; the North- 
ern man came seeking opportunity for his son; the "poor 
white trash" of the South came hoping to escape the 
social and economic disadvantages of the densely populated 
slave communities. Along with these journeyed lawyers, 
doctors, merchants, blacksmiths, and enough adventurers to 
perpetuate the story that Texas was a land of desperadoes. 
Within fifteen years after the time Austin secured his grant 
there were probably not less than thirty thousand Americans 
in Texas. The settlements were mainly located below the 
old military road which ran from San Antonio to Nacog- 
doches, and along the bottoms or lowlands of the San Antonio, 
Guadalupe, Colorado, Brazos, and Trinity rivers. At this 
time Texas was a part of the State of Coahuila, the capital 
being first Saltillo and later Monclova. The state was under 
the control of a governor and legislature elected by the 
people, Texas having as her superior officer a political chief 
who lived at San Antonio. The principal officer in each 
town was the alcalde, whose duties included, roughly, those 
of mayor and justice of the peace. Being so far removed from 
the central government in the City of Mexico, the colonists 
naturally ran their affairs very much as they pleased. Their 
relatives were usually in the United States, and their cor- 
respondence, visits, and trading were chiefly in that direction. 
When they had children to educate they sent them back to 
their old homes. No very strong ties, therefore, were formed 
with their adopted country. 



12 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

And when trouble came, as it was bound to come quickly, 
with two so widely diverse civilizations brought into close con- 
tact, the sympathy of the people of the United States was 
with their friends and neighbors who had so recently become 
citizens of an alien country. Within five years after reach- 
ing Texas, the group of colonists who settled near Nacog- 
doches organized a revolution and planned a free and 
independent state, to be called Fredonia. This revolu- 
tion quelled, the Mexican Government, in order to reduce 
emigration from the United States, first issued a decree (which 
it immediately suspected, as far as Texas was concerned) 
freeing the slaves, the principal asset of the cotton planter; 
the law of 1830 forbade absolutely, with certain excep- 
tions, the coming of more Americans to Texas; the same 
law proposed to settle convicts permanently in the state, and 
soldiers were stationed at various strategic points to intimi- 
date the settlers. An especially obnoxious provision of this 
law provided for the levying of import duties on all goods ex- 
cept those that came from Mexico. Again it is seen how 
easily the anger of a people can be aroused through what 
they deem to be unjust taxation. When the people rose and 
imprisoned the revenue collectors and drove out from Texas 
the Mexican soldiers that had been stationed there, punish- 
ment would certainly have been visited upon them save for 
the fact that Mexico was undergoing a revolution in which 
Santa Anna was the victor. The success of the Texans, how- 
ever, strengthened their contempt for the Mexicans; it 
gave them confidence in themselves and probably brought 
them substantial encouragement from friends in the United 
States. Soon afterward Sam Houston wrote a constitution 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 13 

for Texas, one of the provisions of which separated it from 
Coahuila, and this constitution was forwarded to Mexico to 
be presented in person by Stephen F. Austin to Santa Anna. 
As a result of this journey Austin was thrown into prison for 
fifteen months. The indignation of the Texans over his de- 
tention in a dark dungeon, and the action of Santa Anna in 
stationing soldiers in Texas and ordering several prominent 
citizens to be sent to Mexico for trial, aroused the entire peo- 
ple to such a pitch of indignation that only the force of arms 
could settle the issue. When the peace-loving Austin re- 
turned from Mexico in 1835 he announced in a circular letter: 
*' War is our only resource. There is no other remedy but to 
defend our rights, ourselves, and our country by force of 
arms." 

It required only fifteen years to show that free-born Ameri- 
cans could not live under the edicts of a tyrannical Mexican 
dictator. The people who had come to Texas up to that 
time were of the typical frontier type, restless, red-blooded 
folk, unused to oj^pression, impatient of restraint of any 
character; widely different in religion, in their notion of pop- 
ular education, and in the freedom of the individual, from the 
people under whose rule they attempted to live. Moreover, 
from the first the two peoples mutually distrusted each other, 
and for the dark-skinned, low-caste Mexican a Southern man, 
in particular, had little more genuine respect than he did for 
the negro slave. As one of the early settlers writes in his 
reminiscences, he thought the "Mexicans little better than 
monkeys." 

But the Texans faced a serious situation. The Mexican 
Government under the rule of Santa Anna had a large stand- 



14 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

ing army, a part of which immediately crossed the Rio 
Grande. After San Antonio had been captured by the 
Texans, and several skirmishes had been fought, Santa 
Anna besieged San Antonio with a large army. William B. 
Travis, who was then in command of the Texans at that 
point, took refuge in the Alamo, a part of an old mission 
which still remains standing. With him were such men as 
Bowie, of the family that gave its name to the bowie knife; 
David Crockett, only recently come from Tennessee, and one 
hundred and ninety other men of similar spirit and determi- 
nation. Surrounded and besieged with little hope of rescue, 
Travis sent out this call for help: 

Commandancy of the Alamo, 
Be jar, FeVij %Uh, 1836. 
To the People of Texas and all Americans in the world. 

Fellow Citizens and Compatriots: I am besieged by a thousand 
or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a con- 
tinual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a 
man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, 
the garrison are to put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have an- 
swered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly 
from the walls. / shall never surrender or retreat. Then I call on you 
in the name of Liberty, of patriotism, and everything dear to the Amer- 
ican character, to come to our aid with all dispatch. The enemy is 
receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or 
four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am deter- 
mined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who 
never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country. 
VICTORY OR DEATH! 

William Barret Travis, Lt. Col. Comdt. 

P. S. The Lord is on our side. When the enemy appeared in sight 
we had not three bushels of corn. We have since found in deserted 
houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls of 20 or 30 head of beeves. 

Travis. 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 15 

Ten days later, on March 6th, the Mexicans made a general 
assault. When it was over not a Texan was left alive, while 
around the Alamo were the dead bodies of six or seven 
hundred Mexicans. The chapel of the Alamo still stands, 
a holy spot for Texas patriots. The sacrifice of Travis and 
his brave companions has been embalmed in the stirring 
words " ThermopylcB had its messenger of defeat; hut the Alamo 
had none.^* Two weeks later Colonel Fannin and four hun- 
dred men surrendered to an overpowering Mexican army near 
Goliad. A few days afterward they were marched out and 
shot down. 

The fall of the Alamo and the massacre at Goliad convulsed 
the settlers with fear. They fled from their homes in terror 
before the advance of Santa Anna's army, now separated 
into three divisions marching eastward at a considerable 
distance from each other, Santa Anna himself being in com- 
mand of the main and central division. Before him, Gen.[Sam 
Houston and his Texans retreated until, the invaders being 
separated from the chance of quick reinforcements, Houston 
met the Mexican army in battle a short distance down the 
bayou from the present city of Houston. Here 800 Texas 
militiamen with little military training charged 1,300 Mexi- 
can soldiers on the afternoon of April 21, 1836, giving as their 
battle cry, ** Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" 
In half an hour 600 Mexicans lay dead, 730 were either 
wounded or captured, while the Texans lost only two killed 
and twenty- three wounded. Santa Anna himself was among 
the prisoners. 

The battle of San Jacinto was the Yorktown of Texas; 
it won the independence of the Texas Republic. April 21st 



16 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

is yet a legal holiday as well as March 2d, when the Inde- 
pendence of Texas was declared. The concluding words of 
this Declaration of Independence are: 

"We therefore, the delegates, with plenary powers, of the 
people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing 
to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do 
hereby resolve and declare that our political connection with 
the Mexican nation has forever ended; and that the people of 
Texas do now constitute a free, sovereign, and independent re- 
public, and are fully invested with all the rights and attri- 
butes which i^roperly belong to independent nations; and, 
conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and 
confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme 
Arbiter of the destinies of nations." 

Some of the indictments in the same historical paper read : 
"It [the Mexican Government] has failed and refused to 
secure on a firm basis the right of trial by jury, that palladium 
of civil liberty and only safe guarantee for the life, libert}^ 
and property of the citizen. It has failed to establish any 
public system of education, altho' possessed of almost bound- 
less resources (the public domain), and, although it is an 
axiom, in political science, that unless the people are edu- 
cated and enlightened it is idle to expect the continuance of 
civil liberty or the capacity for self-government. It has de- 
manded the surrender of a number of our citizens and 
ordered military detachments to seize and carry them into 
the interior for trial, in contempt of the civil authorities and 
in defiance of the laws and the constitution. It denies us the 
right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates 
of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 17 

calculated to promote the temporal interests of its human 
functionaries rather than the glory of the true and hving 
God. It hath been during the whole time of our connection 
with it the contemptible sport and victim of successive mili- 
tary revolutions; and hath continually exhibited every 
characteristic of a weak, corrupt, and tyrannical government. 
The necessity of self-preservation now decrees our eternal 
political separation." 

In the "Consultation" held just prior to the convention 
that declared the independence of Texas, three commission- 
ers were selected to go to the United States and ask for aid. 
Aid did come, and many of the men who died in the Alamo, 
who were murdered at Goliad, and a few who fought with 
Houston at San Jacinto, were volunteers who had come 
into Texas as a result of the commission's call for help. In- 
deed, the United States army afterward gave material aid 
indirectly by sending General Gaines and a detachment of 
soldiers to Nacogdoches in order to keep the Cherokee 
Indians in east Texas from rising while the settlers were 
busy restoring their homes destroyed by the invading 
Mexicans. 

Little need be added to this brief account of the Texas 
revolution. Its causes are plainly apparent: the two peoples 
could not mix, and the law of the "survival of the fittest" 
operated here as everywhere else. The Mexican mind and 
character would have to be made over before it would be 
competent to rule a people whose birthrights are the Anglo- 
Saxon notion of civil liberty and the Anglo-Saxon conception 
of individual freedom. Even had Santa Anna temporarily 
driven the Texans from the land, so fair a country having 



18 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

been once seen and coveted, the tide of American immigration 
would have soon again swept westward and overwhelmed all 
opposition to its possession. 

For nearly a decade the Republic of Texas exercised the ordi- 
nary function of a free and independent nation. Every three 
years it elected a president and a vice-president, the presi- 
dent not being eligible to successive reelection. It main- 
tained a congress and a judicial system; it supported an 
army and a considerable navy and sent diplomats to 
various foreign countries. Naturally the United States was 
the first country to recognize the independence of Texas; 
this recognition being followed by the Netherlands, France, 
and England. England manifested a keen interest in 
Texas throughout its independence, an interest that has 
been interpreted as a desire to possess the country. Many 
citizens of the republic were immigrants from England. 
The financial concerns of that country also held a large 
amount of Mexican securities; then, too, England no 
doubt desired to control a region capable of producing 
cotton for her mills, and Texas from the beginning was 
recognized as an ideal cotton-growing state. 

But before the government could be put into smooth 
running condition, order had to be brought out of the chaos 
resulting from the Mexican invasion. The people who 
had fled returned to find their homes burned to the ground, 
their cattle and crops destroyed. But the Anglo-Saxons 
came back, as they generally always do. The captured 
Mexican soldiers were retained as prisoners for a year, while 
a treaty was made with Santa Anna (which the Mexican 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 19 

government repudiated) providing for the independence of 
Texas; then, despite the fact that he had personally ordered 
the storming of the Alamo and the wholesale murder at 
Goliad, he was after a time set free. His return to Mexico 
marked the beginning of years of trouble from the southwest. 

In September, 1836, the people of the Republic voted, with 
only ninety-one dissenting ballots, their assent that Texas 
should be annexed to the United States. At the same time 
they ratified a constitution, and for President chose Sam 
Houston, the hero of San Jacinto, over Stephen F. Austin, the 
Father of Texas. The constitution made liberal provision for 
the support of the government, allowing the President a salary 
of $10,000 a year in contrast to the $4,000 salary now paid to a 
Texas Governor. President Houston found himself facing a 
public debt of more than a million dollars, which, despite his 
economies, largely through the policies of President Lamar, 
had increased to twelve million dollars by the close of the Re- 
public. From its beginning the government was poor in ready 
cash but rich in land. Indeed, like many Texans in later years, 
the government was really *'land poor"; for there could be 
little sale of immense tracts of the public domain when the 
government gave away six hundred and forty acres to every 
married man who would settle on it and three hundred and 
twenty acres to every unmarried man. It also gave to each 
county fifteen thousand acres and presented to the public 
schools and to its state university then and later splendid 
landed endowments amounting to many millions of acres. 

When the battle of San Jacinto was fought there were 
probably thirty thousand Americans in Texas and about 
fifteen thousand Indians. During the ten years of the Re- 



20 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

public the white race increased to one hundred thousand, 
while the great majority of the Indians were either killed in 
battle or driven from the country. Much of the public debt, 
which increased rapidly during this time, arose from maintain- 
ing a frontier defense against the incursion of hostile Indians, 
sometimes incited by Mexican leaders ; and from invasions of 
Mexican soldiery in the desultory war carried on between 
Texas and Mexico practically throughout the whole period. 
By 1850 the population of the state was 200,000. The 
influx of people had come mainly from the Southern States 
and from the central portion of the Eastern States, though 
at the same time a considerable number of German immi- 
grants had settled in various sections of the Republic. Some 
counties in Texas are at this time mainly populated by a 
German citizenship, and in a few instances practically only 
the German language is spoken in good-sized towns, Fred- 
ericksburg and New Braunfels being two examples. Despite 
the law that the English language shall be taught in every 
public school in the state, there are yet some backwoods 
German communities which teach only the German lan- 
guage. A like practice is followed by the Mexicans in a few of 
the Rio Grande border counties where even the court records 
are kept in the Spanish language. 

The Texans, by winning their independence from Mexico 
practically single-handed and unsupported, achieved a glory 
which is the pride of their descendants. It cannot be said, 
however, that the ten years of their maintenance of an in- 
dependent republic was markedly successful. The war was 
not of sufficient duration to weld the different communities 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 21 

into one people. The rapid influx of immigration brought 
additional distracting problems. The troubles with the 
Indians and with Mexico continued throughout the period. 
During Lamar's administration an ill-starred invasion or 
two of Mexico resulted not only in great loss of life but also 
in adding to the public debt. The Santa Fe expedition into 
New Mexico, in order to establish Texas' claim to all the 
land east of the Rio Grande (more than half of the present 
State of New Mexico), proved disastrous. During most of 
this period Mexico herself was disturbed by the continuous re- 
volt of factional chieftains ; otherwise the lot of the new Re- 
public would not have been so easy. A crowd of adventurers 
from Texas at one time crossed over the Rio Grande in an 
abortive attempt to found an additional nation in the north- 
ern part of Mexico to be known as the Republic of the Rio 
Grande. During this period Mexico twice invaded Texas, 
San Antonio being each time captured. In return an army of 
Texans, which came to be known as the Mier Expedition, 
invaded Mexico. After its capture the Texans were again 
subjected to an example of Mexican cruelty. Each one of 
the 176 men was required to draw a bean from a bag in which 
every tenth bean w^as black, the rest being white. The 
seventeen men who drew black beans were then taken out 
and shot. 

The dread of INIexican invasion and domination kept an- 
nexation talk alive during all the days of the Republic. The 
slowness of the United States to act was due mainly to the 
disinclination of the men in power at Washington to further 
complicate the slavery situation by annexing Texas with the 
possibility of having a slave state cut into four or five states 



22 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

each with two United States Senators. Another consideration 
that gave the United States Government pause was the fact 
that the annexation of Texas meant certain war with Mexico. 
Early in the year 1845, however, Congress acted favorably on 
the proposition, and on July 4th of the same year a convention 
of delegates met at Austin, Texas, to decide whether Texas 
should accept annexation. Alarmed at the course of affairs, 
Mexico offered to recognize the independence of Texas and 
make peace if Texas would refuse the offer of the United 
States Government. No attention was paid to this offer, 
and the Texans voted to accept the proposition of the United 
States. Under the terms of the agreement Texas was to re- 
tain all of her public domain, while the United States Govern- 
ment declined to assume the state's public debt of ten million 
dollars. 

The three presidents of the Texas Republic were Sara 
Houston, a Tennesseean, who served for two non-successive 
terms; Mirabeau B. Lamar, a Georgian, and Anson Jones, a 
New York man. Houston was not only the hero of the 
war of independence but had also served as a member of 
Congress and as Governor of Tennessee before coming to 
Texas. For a number of years he had lived as a member of 
a tribe of Cherokee Indians, where he gained experience that 
was extremely valuable to him in dealing with the Indians 
while he was President of the Texas Republic. Despite 
Houston's rigid economies the Indian and Mexican policies of 
President Lamar involved the Republic in heavy debt. ^Vhen 
Texas was admitted to the Union there was outstanding 
more than twelve millions of dollars of paper money that 
had been issued by the Republic. 




A Typical Fort Worth Residence 
Home of a Texas cattleman 




A View of the Alamo Plaza, San Antoxio 
The post office and an office bnilding in the background 




J 'K( )M I X KN T T i:X ANS 

Albert SrnNEv Burleson Thomas Watt Gregory 

C opyngkt by Harris (s- Ewing Copyright by Harris &^ Emng 

Postmaster-General (jf the United Slates Attorney-CJenenil of th.- rnileil Slates 

Edward M. Hoilse 

Copyright by U nderivnod ^ Umlcru'ood, N. Y 
Adviser of President Wilson 
V. W. Grubbs Robert Scott Lovett 

The n.a„ who made possible the Girls' ,,,„,,, f^J^j ?^?£:^fi,„,man 

In.lnslrial ( olh-o,- ;it Denton ilailroad System 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 28 

The famous homestead law, said to have been first prepared 
by Isaac Van Zandt, who left numerous descendants in Texas, 
was passed during Lamar's administration, and has been 
widely copied throughout the United States. Under the orig- 
inal law a person was allowed to keep his home, a definite 
number of acres, his furniture and tools, five cows, a yoke of 
oxen or a horse, twenty hogs, and provisions for a year. The 
present Texas homestead law, to the great distress and dis- 
advantage of the homesteader's creditors, exempts business 
property that may be occupied by a skyscraper. 

While President Lamar may be justly charged with being 
an unwise financier, he will be known for all time in Texas 
history as the constant and strong friend of public education. 
It was during his administration that a law was passed set- 
ting aside a body of land to each county to be held in trust 
for the public schools. President Lamar's eloquent com- 
munications to his Congress on the subject of education are 
yet models of wise foresight and statesmanlike grasp of the 
value to the state of an intelligent citizenship. A part of 
one of his periods is yet printed on every catalogue and 
pamphlet sent out by the University of Texas: "Cultivated 
mind is the guardian genius of democracy. . . . It is 
the only dictator that freemen acknowledge and the only 
security that freemen desire." 

Despite, however, the influx of new citizens, the prosperity 
of the people, the richness of Texas soil, and the opportuni- 
ties for establishing a free and independent and ultimately 
great Republic, Texans rejoiced at again becoming citizens of 
the mother country from which they had gone out into the 
wilderness. Texas cheerfully swapped its President for a 



24 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Governor, its Congress for a Legislature, disbanded its army, 
transferred its navy, recalled its ministers, abandoned its cus- 
tom houses, ceased issuing money, and became a member of 
the sisterhood of states, soon to be plunged into a serious war 
with Mexico, wherein 8,000 Texas soldiers fought. The 
peace of 1848 transferred to the United States a territory 
which now embraces California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, 
and, besides, parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. 
Thus Texas indirectly brought as her marriage portion a con- 
siderable body of territory, and the annexation of the state in 
connection with attendant consequences was one of the most 
important steps ever taken by the ^United States Govern- 
ment. 

The claim of Texas to that portion of New Mexico east of 
the Rio Grande River aroused a good deal of bitter feeling on 
the part of many citizens, — a complication finally settled by 
an agreement in which the United States paid to the state 
ten million dollars in return for its claim to New Mexico, 
this money to be used in paying the state's debts. This was 
done and all trouble avoided. Settlers from every state east of 
the Mississippi River, though in larger numbers from the 
Southern States, forded the Red River by thousands. As there 
were no railroads, the most of them came overland, driving 
mule or ox teams and riding in large covered wagons. Some 
took the water route down the Mississippi River, reshipping 
from New Orleans to Galveston or other Texas ports. The 
first railroad in the state was built in 1856. To encourage 
railroad building the state government lent the companies 
money from the public free school fund, giving sixteen sections 
of land or 10,240 acres for every mile of track completed. But 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 25 

the outbreak of the Civil War stopped all railroad building. 
After the war the state concessions to the railroads were not 
quite so generous. 

Coming usually from a timbered country, the immigrants 
to Texas naturally settled along the rivers where wood was 
abundant. The settlements started near the Gulf and 
gradually extended northward. It was first supposed that 
only the bottom lands were suitable for cultivation, and it 
was some years before the rich, level, and open uplands of the 
state were utilized for any purposes except for pasturage. 
In the " black waxy" region of the state the lands are at the 
present time much more valuable than the lowlands of the 
river bottoms. The early settlers thought that they would 
not only starve but that they would freeze to death if they 
built their cabins anywhere else except in the timbered 
stretches along the rivers. 

Hardly a decade of peaceful statehood had elapsed before 
the people of Texas, along with the rest of the country, were 
in the midst of exciting controversies preceding the Civil 
War. When the question of secession came up for discussion 
Sam Houston, who was again the chief executive officer in 
Texas, vigorously opposed it. He was thereupon removed 
from office, and the convention called for the purpose voted 
to secede from the Union by a majority of 16G to 8. During 
the Civil War Texas furnished probably 100,000 soldiers to 
the Southern army. The history of this war will prove that 
they were good though sometimes reckless fighters. Their 
youthful recklessness is well illustrated in the story of a 
captain of cavalry, one George B. Zimpleman, who, on a bet 
that he could perform the feat, lassoed a Federal cavalry 



26 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

officer while that gentleman was busy trying to kill him with 
his revolver, and brought him into camp, the Confederate 
meanwhile refusing to use any weapon at all except his cow- 
boy rope. After arriving in camp Zimpleman apologized pro- 
fusely to the captured officer because the astonished Federal 
had suffered a broken arm when the lasso jerked him from his 
horse. Another episode which is set out in various histories 
of the war tells how Galveston as well as a number of ships 
were captured by a fleet of improvised Confederate war 
vessels which had their decks piled with cotton to protect 
the riflemen. This new brand of warship was known as 
"Cotton Clad." 

Because of its far removal from the centre of combat in this 
war, Texas suffered less than any other Southern state. In- 
deed it is yet a boast of the people that every landing of 
Federal soldiers on Texas soil resulted in failure. Though in- 
vasions of the state were attempted at Sabine Pass, at Gal- 
veston, and at Brownsville, they were rendered fruitless 
through the resourceful intrepidity of the Texans' defense. 
Being free of invasions, the work of raising crops, internal 
commerce, and other industries went forward. Numerous 
manufacturing plants were also an outgrowth of war condi- 
tions, and active trade with Mexico further rendered the posi- 
tion of Texas more fortunate than any other one of the seceded 
states. \Mien the war ended and the Federal soldiers finally 
took possession, the proclamation freeing the negroes was made 
June 19, 1865, thus establishing a negro holiday known as the 
"June teen th," celebrated each year in fitting style throughout 
the state by the black man and all his people. 

Gen. Phil Sheridan was a Federal officer whose duty it 



THE COMING OF THE PEOPLE 27 

was to impose the harsh miHtary rule of reconstruction 
days on the people of Texas. His enforcement of the letter 
of that rule, with whatever amendments suggested themselves 
to him, made the lot of Texas as unhappy as any state in 
the South. Her duly -elected officers were forcibly removed, 
her laws disregarded, and the rights of her citizens shamefully 
trampled on in a thousand ways by the edicts of military men. 
A radical legislature, which remained in session continuously 
for twelve months, by its reckless waste of public funds in- 
creased the tax rate 1,400 per cent, in four years. But civil 
quiet and a fair degree of contentment again succeeded 
when Richard Coke, afterward distinguished as a United 
States Senator, upon being duly elected took forcible posses- 
sion of the office of Governor in 1874, despite the appeals of 
Governor E. J. Davis to President Grant. The reconstruc- 
tion constitution of 1869 was speedily annulled and a new 
constitution, known as the Constitution of 1876, under which 
the state is now operated, was adopted by a convention of 
legally qualified delegates and later ratified by the people. 



CHAPTER III 

PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT 

" Brave old Mackenzie long has laid him down 

To rest beside the trail that bears his name. 

A granite mountain makes his monument; 

The northers, moaning o'er the low divide. 

Go gently past his long -deserted camps. 

No more his rangers guard the far frontier; 

No more he leads them in the border fights; 

No more the mavericks' winding stream of horns 
. To Kansas bound ; the dust, the cowboy songs 

And cries, the pistol's sharp report; the free, 

Wild days in Texas by the Rio Grande." 

— Border Ballad. 



T 



"^ HE story of the state's growth since the days of re- 
construction is reflected in other chapters in this 
volume, and is not greatly dissimilar to that of other 
Southern states; for, while preserving much of the spirit of 
the old South, Texas is really a Western state. The prob- 
lems Texans are called on to solve are alike throughout the 
West. Following the war came immigrants in ever-increas- 
ing numbers; the era of the small farmer was ushered in; rail- 
roads were built; towns began to put on city airs; the long 
period of quiet, which yet continues, gave the people an 
opportunity to examine themselves, instead of watching the 
man outside, and to determine what was best for the state 
and for themselves. Frontier protection against the Indians 
and outlaws, the development of an efficient system of 
public education, the distribution of an immense public do- 

28 



PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT 29 

main, the proper control of public service corporations, the 
establishment of a system of courts, problems of public 
finance, the labor movement, the granger movement, the 
prohibition question — all these matters, and many others, 
have been discussed by the press, on the hustings, and by the 
fireside, though the demands of this chapter require only a 
few to be mentioned. 

Governor Richard Coke was authorized in 1874 to equip a 
battalion of mounted men of six companies of seventy-five 
men each, for protecting the frontier against Indians, Mexi- 
cans, or other desperadoes. This body of men came to be 
known as Texas Rangers, and is still provided for, although 
its numbers have been greatly reduced. Acting both as a 
peace officer and as a military man, the ranger, who is usually 
chosen for his courage, horsemanship, and ability to shoot 
straight and to shoot quick, has exercised an important in- 
fluencejin extending the frontier boundaries of Texas. WTiere 
the ranger camped the settler was not afraid to follow close 
at his heels, for the wild man and the bad man and the mad 
man fled as the ranger approached. When Mr. Roosevelt 
got ready to organize his regiment of Rough Riders in the 
Spanish- American War, he came to San Antonio, Texas, in 
the heart of the ranger country, in order to be convenient to 
the class of men that he wished to lead against the Spaniards. 
He once said of "Bill" McDonald, a prominent ranger cap- 
tain and now United States Marshal for the Northern Dis- 
trict of Texas, that this particular individual would take 
pleasure in charging hell armed only with a bucket of water. 
The ranger service in Texas is under the immediate control of 
the Adjutant-General of the state. The men are divided into 



80 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

four or five small companies which for a number of years have 
been kept camped in the different parts of the Rio Grande 
country. Until recently the border counties between Okla- 
homa and Texas were in as great need of protection as the 
Rio Grande region. 

Governor Charles Culberson, in his message to the legis- 
lature dated January 16, 1895, said: "It has become com- 
mon for the Government to aid certain classes of industries 
by bounties, protection, and other species of unequal laws, 
and under this impetus individual fortunes have grown to 
such gigantic proportions that conservative and thoughtful 
men are appalled at the enlarging power of concentrated 
capital." In Texas the operations and results of bounty 
giving was illustrated most exasperatingly by the railroads. 
The railroads had been needed to develop the country, but 
it cannot be doubted that in many cases, at least, high 
prices were paid for them. The total bounties in land to the 
railroads in the state amounted to 39,000,800 acres, 22 per 
cent, of the total acreage of the state, an area equal to the 
entire State of New York. About a third of this, however, 
was eventually forfeited back to the state. Too late the 
people came to see that the railroads had cost perhaps too 
much. Their practical freedom from all laws, their im- 
mense wealth, and the ease with which their interests 
could be combined made railroad men of the Jay Gould 
type careless of the wishes or the rights of the people. 
Big competing lines, therefore, suspended all competition 
and formed combinations in disregard of the law. Watered 
stocks were issued by the millions. High rates, special 
rates, rebates, and poor service characterized every road 




Frominiont Ti:xan3 
R. Waverly Smith, Banker arnl Lawyer, John H. Kirby, 



Galveston 

Geo. W. l?ra<krnri(ige. Banker, 
San Antonio 



Houston 

R. M. Johnston, Editor Houston Post, 
Houston 




Plwtoirnph by Jensen's SluJio 
(iKOUCK W. LiTTLKFIELl) 

Stockmun and banker Austin, Texas 



PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT SI 

in Texas. To bolster up such indefensible practices free 
passes were issued to every officeholder in Texas whose 
functions could in the slightest way embarrass the rail- 
roads in their exercise of arbitrary powers. Governor 
Hogg, who from the late eighties led in the fight against 
unjust practices of the railroads, said in an address in 
1901: "I proved by the railway officials that the railway 
line from Jefferson to Greenville cost its owners $7,000 a 
mile to build it; that they got from the state 10,240 acres 
of land to the mile; that they sold this land for more than 
enough to pay for building the road; that they issued $12,000 
of bonds and stocks per mile on the road; that they ran 
it many years and maintained it in fine condition; that in 
1880 they sold it to other parties for $9,000 in cash a mile, 
which included the stocks and bonds. The new purchasers 
immediately placed stocks and bonds on the road for $35,000 
per mile, thus making a clean profit on the face of the trans- 
action of $4,000,000. Later on the new management cut 
down the train and track service, reduced wages of the em- 
ployees, and raised traffic rates out of reason; then within 
six or seven years it ran down the road from a good one to 
such a reckless state that no one could get an accident ticket 
over it." 

It was Governor Hogg who, while Attorney-General of 
Texas, began to prosecute the railroad companies for viola- 
tions of the law. He also fought for a law creating a Rail- 
road Commission in Texas and finally saw it placed on the 
statute books in 1891. He then induced Senator John H. 
Reagan, who had framed the Interstate Commerce law for 
the United States, to resign as United States Senator and 



32 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

become the first chairman of the Railroad Commission. 
This commission, with the power to classify freight and fix 
the rates for railroads and express companies, and with 
ample authority to enforce the obedience of the railroads, 
has exercised a great beneficial influence. Intrastate rates 
have been reduced and equalized, a good deal of water has 
been squeezed out of depreciated bonds, and the railroads 
forced to improve their roadbeds and rolling stock, and to 
build comfortable depots. "The most important results," 
says Prof. Charles S. Potts, "achieved by the state through 
the work of the Railroad Commission has been the almost 
complete abolition of discrimination between persons and 
places and of the fluctuations in rates due to competition 
and rate wars. Steady and uniform rates are of more 
assistance to the business community than low rates, and 
these two qualities have been secured in large measure as 
a result of the Commission's work." 

To John H. Reagan, a notable figure in Southern as well as 
local state history, is most largely due the present standing 
of the Texas Railroad Commission; for it does yet stand 
high even though more than once positions on the commis- 
sion have been attained by persons whose conspicuous fitness 
rested largely on their ability to employ political claptrap 
to mislead voters. But Reagan enjoyed the confidence and 
respect of all. He tried, while protecting the interests of 
the people, to treat the railroads fairly. He became known 
as the "square deal" man — a title richly deserved. 

Governor Hogg thought that the allied question of the un- 
restrained issuance of stocks and bonds by railway companies 
to be almost as important as the Railroad Commission issue. 



PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT S3 

He showed that the railroads had outstanding against them 
$455,000,000 in stocks and bonds, an amount equal to 
one-half of the value of all the property within the state, 
including the railways themselves. At the same time his 
exhibits proved that railways were rendered for taxation 
for $63,000,000 or about one-eighth of their indebtedness. 
Under the law passed as a result of this agitation the Rail- 
road Commission was given power to regulate all future 
issues of stocks. "The stock and bond law," says Professor 
Potts, "has not only decreased the issuance of fictitious 
stocks and bonds, but has actually resulted in the decrease 
of the average amount of the outstanding securities per line 
of mile. This result is worthy of remembrance in view of 
the fact that the last twenty years has seen a marked in- 
crease of the outstanding capitalization on the other rail- 
roads in the United States. The average amount of capital 
stock per line of mile in Texas has been reduced from $15,000 
in 1894 to $8,000 in 1913, or a decrease of more than 44 per 
cent. The bonded indebtedness per line of mile has been 
reduced from $25,700 per mile to $23,200, or a decrease in 
the mortgage debt of nearly 10 per cent. The total amount 
of both stocks and bonds has been reduced from $40,800 in 
1894 to $31,600 in 1913, or a reduction of more than 22 
per cent." The average decrease in value is due both to the 
low valuation of new roads and to the fact that old roads, 
as their securities mature, are not allowed to bond again so 
freely. 

It should not be forgotten that the regulation of railroads 
in Texas was instituted and finally effected largely through 
the persistent courage and forceful advocacy of one man — 



34 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

James Stephen Hogg. Even after he retired from the Gov- 
ernor's chair he continued to combat the evils which he 
thought were practised by the railroads. Because of his 
activity, comparatively few people in Texas travel on passes. 
One of his contentions — namely, that unwarranted issues 
of stocks and bonds should be declared invalid — has never 
been brought to pass. Other men have, of course, assisted 
in the work accomplished in Texas, but to Governor Hogg 
must in large measure be given the honor of relieving a situ- 
ation that had become unbearably oppressive. 

"Next to the introduction of railroads," said Governor 
Roberts, "barbed wire has done most to develop the agri- 
cultural and pastoral pursuits of the state." But barbed 
wire, as did the railroads, brought its troubles. The fenc- 
ing of large bodies of land into one pasture by the cattleman 
— and he not seldom fenced land other than his own — 
brought irritation and discomfort to the small stock grower 
and to the farmer. Fence cutting became so common that 
Governor Ireland in 1884 convened the legislature in special 
session and passed laws against the fence cutters, which finally 
put an end to the practice. 

The waste in disposing of the public lands of Texas was 
stopped in 1887 by a law which provided that farming land 
could be sold to actual settlers only, in amounts ranging 
from 160 acres to 640 acres. The terms were most liberal, 
and purchasers had forty years' time to pay for their land, 
at an interest rate of 3 per cent., with only the first pay- 
ment and the annual interest actually required until the end 
of the forty years' period. At the same time each person 
was allowed to purchase four sections of grazing land in the 



PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT 35 

arid section of the state. Under the operation of this law 
less than 2,000,000 acres of public land in Texas remain un- 
sold. This, however, does not include more than 2,000,000 
acres yet held by the university, the most of which is leased 
to cattlemen for grazing purposes. Again, under the leader- 
ship of Governor Hogg, legislation was enacted affecting 
public lands held by large land corporations, many of them 
non-residents. In 1890 such corporations owned about 
40,000,000 acres of Texas lands, or one-fourth of the entire 
state. A law was enacted prohibiting further acquisition 
of land by corporations, and requiring the lands then owned 
to be sold within fifteen years. The lands of refractory 
corporations were to be sold by judicial proceedings. A 
second act provided that no alien or person not a resident of 
the United States should thereafter acquire title to any 
Texas land, exception being made to lands in incorporated 
towns or cities. 

Another subject that has agitated the minds of the people 
at different times is the question of state-wide prohibition. 
In 1887, after an exciting discussion in which the leading 
orators of the state were pitted against each other, the 
matter was voted upon. The result of the vote was 129,270 
for and 220,627 against prohibition. Again, in the summer 
of 1911, the subject was submitted to popular vote. The 
debates, while vigorous, were more good-natured, the vote 
standing, for prohibition, 231,096, against prohibition, 
237,363. At the present time, as for some years past, the 
prohibition question is recognized as the paramount issue 
in the Democratic party, the two leading candidates for 
Governor always occupying opposite sides on this question, 



36 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

with the prohibitionists seemingly gaining steadily in num- 
bers. The present Governor, James E. Ferguson, an- 
nounced as a prominent plank in his platform that he would 
veto any liquor legislation, pro or anti, passed by the legis- 
lature. The people vindicated his judgment that they were 
weary of having the prohibition question a factor in state 
politics, for he was triumphantly elected, and the succeeding 
legislature was remarkably free from heated discussion 
growing out of this question. Nor was the Governor 
called upon to make his word good, as he without doubt 
would have done. 

That local option sentiment is growing becomes more 
apparent if one studies the increase in the number of coun- 
ties voting local option. At the present time 186 of the 
252 counties are entirely "dry," while 49 are partly "dry." 
Probably 70 per cent, of the people live under well-enforced 
local option laws. A general law provides that no intoxi- 
cating liquors can be sold or drunk on a railroad train in 
Texas; a 9:30 closing law is very generally observed, and a 
Sunday closing law is strictly enforced. 

One of the relics of radical rule days was a public 
debt of $5,000,000 which, through the business acumen of 
Governor Roberts, was either settled or comfortably funded. 
Governor Roberts was also at the head of the commission 
that built the present state capitol, said to be at the time 
of its erection one of the six largest buildings in the world. 
It cost the State of Texas three million acres of land, and is 
560 feet long by 280 feet broad. When the Spanish- 
American War broke out Texas sent to the front, or as far 
to the front as they could get, five regiments of infantry and 



PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT 37 

one of cavalry. In addition a lot of her cowboys and col- 
lege students joined Mr. Roosevelt's Rough Riders when 
that noted organization was formed in San Antonio. 

During the last twenty years Texas has suffered con- 
siderably by storms and floods. In the matter of flood 
rivers the Brazos is the worst offender. In the summer 
of 1889, again in 1902, and still again in 1913, this river 
overflowed its banks, along which, especially below Waco, 
there lies some of the finest cotton acreage in the world. 
Frequent floods have, however, taught the people the 
value of levees. Under special legislation levee districts 
have been formed in many localities, levee bonds voted, 
and much valuable land afforded protection. Galveston 
has been the chief sufferer by storms. The first one 
came in 1900, destroying 6,000 lives and millions of dollars' 
worth of property. Again, in 1915, another terrific storm 
swept the coast, bringing almost as heavy loss of property, 
but destroying only a few lives. The great Galveston 
sea wall, built partly by the courageous people of that city 
and partly by the National Government, held staunchly, and 
the city was saved. 

Out of the first Galveston disaster came at least one 
blessing — the commission form of government — which has 
not only been adopted by practically every important in- 
corporated town in Texas, but also by many other cities 
of the United States. R. Waverley Smith, a banker and 
lawyer of Galveston, conceived the commission idea for 
city government. He, with others, realized, after the ca- 
lamitous storm, that a small, eflScient group of men could 
best do the work of rebuilding a stricken city. Under the 



88 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

prevailing system incompetent, perhaps venal, persons 
could be elected. The experiment was suggested by the 
dire necessities of the situation, and Mr. Smith drafted 
that section of a new charter which gave extraordinary 
powers to five men. The legislature granted the charter 
after declining to approve the provision allowing the Gov- 
ernor to appoint the commission. Under its operation 
all powers of the city are placed in the hands of five men 
selected by a popular vote. The commission plan of city 
government, organized and first tried out thoroughly in 
Texas, seems destined to be as widely copied as her home- 
stead law. 

Since the time of Governor Hogg the people of Texas, 
except in the matter of the prohibition question, have not 
been greatly agitated about matters of state reform. They 
have paid more attention to national issues, such as free 
silver, imperialism, and our relations to Mexico, than to 
state problems. Questions of court procedure, judicial 
reform, public education, public health, improvement of 
public buildings and public roads, the introduction of manu- 
facturing enterprises, the price of cotton, cooperative market- 
ing, rural credits, tenantry, etc., have interested special groups 
at different times, and some of these problems are still far 
from solution; but the larger body of the people have not 
become excited over any one or combination of them. It 
may be safely said that the people of Texas generally be- 
lieve that the United States should intervene in the Mexican 
situation, but there are really very few who favor this in- 
tervention should it require force of arms. The reputed 
warlike spirit of Texas is largely the work of imaginative 



PEACEFUL DEVELOPMENT 39 

newspaper correspondents or the irresponsible utterances 
of ambitious politicians. 

These annals are confessedly incomplete. Other chapters 
give details of some of the things that it was necessary to 
omit. From the Civil War period down to the present the 
state has been blessed with peace and prosperity. Its 
growth in population, in enlightenment, and in wealth, 
has been rapid and continuous. There is yet room for 
more people, and they are coming by trainloads. Texas is 
no paradise, but it is a good place to live in. Its history 
has been eventful and honorable. Its future, who can 
prophesy? 



PART II— THE PEOPLE 

"But the heroes pressed on for the prize to be won, 
Through the dust of the overland trail." 




CHAPTER I 

THEIR NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION 

"Let us pledge ourselves, as Texans, to love the truth and seek it, to learn 
the right and do it, and, in all emergencies, however wealth may tempt or 
popular applause allure, to be rulers of our own free speech, masters of our own 
untrammelled thoughts, captains of our own unfettered souls." — Yancey Lewis. 

APID as has been the rate of increase in the popula- 
tion of the United States at each decade since its 
admission to the Union, that of Texas has been even 
greater. The rate at which the people have come in by 
birth and migration is shown by the following table, where 
the population predicted for 1920 is based on the supposition 
that the increase in population between 1910 and 1920 will 
equal that between 1900 and 1910. 

GROWTH OF THE POPULATION OF TEXAS 

Year Population Percentage of United States 

Increase Percentage 

IS'^O 210,000> 

I860 600,000 ^ll ll 

1870 820,000 

1880 1,590,000 I 

1890 2,240,000| Tl r^ 

1900 3,050,000 ^^ ;:, 

\ 28 21 

1910 3,900,000 ' 

1920 . . : 4,750,000 

The density of population, sixteen per square mile, one 
person to every forty acres, is about half the average for the 
United States. Texas is more thickly settled than the 

43 



44 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

"Mountain States," or the Dakotas, and is just about as 
thickly populated as Florida, Nebraska, Oregon, or Califor- 
nia. Less than twenty thousand whites in 1835, more than 
three and one-half million in 1915, is the record of eighty 
years. 

The average number of persons to a family is 4.9, which, 
compared with Uncle Sam's average of 4.5, shows that race 
suicide is not as popular in Texas as in some other places. A 
favorite remark in the arid country is : "The baby crop is the 
certainest one we have." This crop, however, has decreased 
relatively very much since frontier times, the decrease being 
especially marked in the towns, which have in proportion to 
population only two-thirds as many children as the country. 
Compared with Massachusetts, the birth rate seems to be 
half again as large, which is one of the reasons why there are 
forty-six people only in every hundred in Massachusetts, 
and sixty in Texas, under twenty-five years of age. Ap- 
proximately, there are five persons to a dwelling, from which 
fact it is easy to see that apartment and tenement houses 
have not yet risen in large numbers. In crowded New York 
City, for example, there are sixteen persons to a dwelling, 
thirty-one if Manhattan Borough alone is considered. 
Naturally, nearly all of the dwellings occupied by more than 
one family are in the towns, over half of them being in the 
eight largest cities. 

When we are told that only one-sixth of Texas has been 
plowed and that most of this sixth is not cultivated at all 
intensively, the population possibilities begin to dawn upon 
us. More than half of Texas is fertile soil, and, allowing two 
acres to a person, 40,000,000 people, the present population 



THEIR NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION 45 

of France, becomes a probability of the not very distant 
future. Dallas County, the most densely populated area, 
with ten times the average density, is not yet as thickly pop- 
ulated as Pennsylvania, nor half as thickly as Massachusetts 
or Germany or New Jersey. As yet Texas is not causing 
New York any uneasiness as to first place in population; but 
observe the results of the race so far between the states at 
each twenty-year interval: Texas was twenty -fifth in 1850, 
nineteenth in 1870, seventh in 1890, and fifth in 1910. Ohio 
will be the next to see Texas pass her on the way to first 
place, which, being long-winded, Texas is sure to reach, and, 
reaching, sure to hold forevermore. 

The density of population by counties ranges from one 
person for each ten square miles to 158 a square mile. It is 
possible to pass from crowded city blocks through spreading 
suburbs and small farms to large pastures where houses are 
many miles apart. To understand at all the distribution of 
population in Texas it will be necessary for even the casual 
reader to look at the accompanying population map in con- 
nection with the geological map on page 67 and the map of 
the natural life zones on page 90. Unless to do so strains 
too much the mind of the reader, these maps should be imag- 
ined superposed upon one another. 

Such a superposition reveals the fact that the Black 
Prairie is the most densely populated portion of the state, 
with about fifty persons or more to the square mile. East- 
ward the density decreases slowly, northeast Texas being 
fairly uniformly occupied with some thirty-five people to 
the square mile: westward the density thins rapidly at 
first and slowly afterward, with the exception of an increase 



46 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

in the heart of the Red Beds country; south westward it 
thins slowly till the boundary between the Humid and 
Mesquite Zone is reached, where there is a rapid thinning- 
out, exception being made of San Antonio, which is the 
commercial capital of a vast, thinly settled region to the 
south and west; southeastward toward the coast the 




DENSITY OP POPULATION 
BY COUNTIES 

Figures give number of inhabitants 
per square mile. 



density thins slowly, exception being made of the Beau- 
mont-Orange and Houston-Galveston centres, each due to 
railroads, harbors, lumber, oil fields, and various other 
causes. The most sudden drop in population is encountered 
crossing westward a long S-shaped line that runs between 
Bexar and Cook counties. This S is a geological line which 
marks the surface boundaries of the Upper and Lower Lime- 



THEIR NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION 47 

stones in south central Texas, the Lower Limestones and the 
Coal Measures in north Texas. 

Rainfall and soil have been the main factors in locating all 
of the rural population and most of the urban. Much tim- 
ber has had some effect as a deterrent, requiring work to re- 
move it. The long-leaf pine area is clearly marked as one of 
sparse population : where so many fine trees grow there is lit- 
tle room left for people. Considerations of health have at- 
tracted people from the moist east to the dry west. When 
a malarial mosquito bites an east Texan and starts him to 
"chillin'," he forgets his superabundant fruits and vege- 
tables, and the dry country looks good to him; but when he 
gets there, he yearns for the east Texas rains. Hence 
oscillations of population which were marked in early days, 
and still are to some extent, by the passing along the roads of 
*' prairie schooners," canvas-covered wagons, loaded with 
wife, children, and household effects, and followed by 
more children, horses, dogs, mules, cows, and calves. Every 
now and then the immigrant stuck up signs expressive of his 
disgust, "Nine inches to hell!" "Sixty miles to water!" 
and "Damn this country!" being favorites. Obviously one 
can't have all the delights of clear, dry weather while it is 
raining, or cheap land in a thickly populated country. The 
booster of any particular town or county usually has plenty 
of good things to say about it, some true and some o'er- 
gilded by a luxuriant and not always disinterested imagina- 
tion; but a happy prosperity is easily possible anywhere in 
Texas if one works with and not against nature. 

The extreme contrasts that exist between the different 
portions of Texas are the subjects of much good-natured 



48 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

repartee. The prairie man derides the man who Hves 
"in the sticks," while the man from the timber country 
repHes with derogatory references to windmills and jack 
rabbits. The east Texan admits that he has sand between 
his toes; the Trans-Pecos man says that water is so scarce 
in his country that some frogs there two years old do not 
yet know how to swim. 

Texas is overwhelmingly rural: its smaller towns are 
small islands almost submerged in a great agricultural sea. 
At least two out of every three Texans live in the open 
country, and less than one in five in towns of more than 
ten thousand. The people, however, are moving to town: 
in 1900 there were fifty-six towns of over 2,500 people, in 1910 
there were ninety-nine, and now there are more than a hun- 
dred. In the last twenty-five years the number of smaller 
towns has doubled, although their total population has 
merely kept pace with the general growth in numbers. It 
is the larger towns that are growing so much faster than 
the country. The growth in the country and smaller towns 
for the last census period was 19 per cent.; in the towns and 
cities above 2,500 in population it was 68 per cent.; in the 
eight largest cities it was 77 per cent, (despite the fact that 
the great storm of 1900 caused the population of Galveston, 
one of the eight, to remain nearly stationary during the 
census decade) ; in the five largest cities it was 107 per cent. 
During the same period the towns above 2,500 in the United 
States showed an increase of 34 per cent., and the rest of the 
country an increase of 11 per cent. The towns and cities 
of the United States therefore increased proportionately 
three times as fast as the country: in Texas they increased 



66 


44 


7 


9 


8 


9 


4 


6 


15 


32 



THEIR NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION 49 

almost four times as fast. Yet so overwhelming is the pro- 
portion of rural population that an increase of 19 per cent, 
for it meant an absolute increase of 470,000, while an in- 
crease of 68 per cent, in the total population of the towns 
above 2,500 meant an increase of only 378,000. In the 
accompanying table the percentage distribution of the 
population of Texas into rural and urban is given and com- 
pared with that of the United States. 

TEXAS UNITED STATES 

Rural 

229 small towns of less than 2,500 

70 towns with 2,500 to 10,000 

13 towns with 10,000 to 25,000 

8 cities with over 25,000 

100 100 

The four counties having the four largest cities showed 
population increases above 50,000, Tarrant County with 
56,000 carrying away the banner. Three large agricultural 
counties — Washington, Fannin, and Fayette — showed de- 
creases of about 7,000 each. All told, there were thirty- 
four agricultural or stock-raising counties that showed de- 
creases in their population from 1900 to 1910, most of these 
counties lying near the centre of the southeastern third of 
the state. River overflows, boll weevils, and the call of the 
cheaper lands to the west were the causes of these losses, 
which have helped to increase so greatly the population 
of the northwestern half of the state. Here and there 
the towns have lost relatively to the surrounding country. 
Increased transportation facilities, especially the interurban 
electrics, are causing and will doubtless continue to cause 



50 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

the cities to grow at the expense of their nearby towns. 
People from other states have been pouring into west Texas, 
into the Coastal Plain, and also into all other parts of the 
state. " Homeseekers' excursions" have been for years a 
regular part of the program of the railways. 

Let us close this chapter somewhat irrelevantly with a 
number of scattered facts concerning the 252 counties of 
Texas. El Paso, with 5,570 square miles (about the size of 
Connecticut and Rhode Island combined), is the largest 
county, and Rockwall, with 140 square miles, is the small- 
est. There are three counties each about the size of Con- 
necticut, and ten each larger than Delaware. The average 
county is nearly the size of Rhode Island. A great many 
of the counties are squares, with thirty miles to a side. 
Dallas County has the largest population, 150,000 or more, 
and Cochran has the smallest, about 100. The average 
county now has a population of about 18,000. 

Although the counties of Texas in most cases have only 
arbitrary boundaries, the older counties particularly have 
individualities of their own, and there are printed histories 
of some of them. The Texan thinks of the counties in 
relation to the state in about the same way that he thinks 
of the state in relation to the United States. Larger sen- 
atorial or congressional districts have no such individuali- 
ties, on account of frequent changes in their boundaries. 

The counties of Texas are so numerous that nearly every 
person of any importance in Texas history has been re- 
membered in naming them. Spanish governors, explorers, 
early settlers, statesmen and politicians, jurists, soldiers, 
and even three historians have had their memories thus per- 



THEIR NUMBER AND DISTRIBUTION 51 

petuated. As if the learning of Texas political geography 
were not otherwise hard enough, there has been a confusing 
mix-up in the naming of towns and counties. Athens is in 
Henderson County, Henderson is in Rusk County, Rusk is 
in Cherokee County, and Cherokee — ^well, there are two or 
three Cherokees in as many counties. Aransas Pass is in 
Patricio County, while Rockport is in Aransas County; 
Beaumont is in Jefferson County, while Jefferson is in 
Marion. Austin is not in Austin County nor Bellville in 
Bell County nor Houston in Houston County nor Franklin 
in Franklin County; while Dallas is in Dallas County, El 
Paso in El Paso, Galveston in Galveston, and Gonzales in 
Gonzales. There is no regularity amid the irregularity, 
and one is reminded of those exceptions in the grammar 
which overshadow the rules. Worst of all, JJpland is the 
county seat of Up/o?i. 

During the last decade there were some counties in the 
west that put to shame any percentages listed in usury laws. 
Several increased in population over 2,000 per cent., one 
over 6,000, one nearly 8,000, while Lynn County, by in- 
creasing from 17 to over 1,700 in population, carried off the 
prize at 10,000 per cent. 



CHAPTER II 

THEIR NATIONALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS 

"... the emigrants, 
Who bore the westward fever in their brains. 
The Norseman tang for roving in their veins. 
Who loved the plains as sailors love the sea. 
Braved danger, death, and found a resting place, 
WTiile traveling on the old Mackenzie trail." 

EVEN the Census Bureau does not try to analyze 
fully the constituent elements of our complex popu- 
lation. In the case of Texas, as in the case of the 
whole United States, it is impossible to trace the exact pro- 
portion of Irish or English or German in the whole mass of 
inhabitants. It is desirable here, however, to get some idea 
of the elements that make up the present population of 
Texas, and for that purpose the table appearing on page 53 
will be found useful. 

Europeans, particularly Germans, are now coming in 
rather slowly, but Mexicans are coming into Texas in 
large but as yet uncounted numbers. The percentage 
of "Mexicans born in Mexico" just given is for this rea- 
son perhaps too small. The percentage of "native 
Mexican Texans of Mexican Texan parentage" is only 
an estimate. Newcomer Mexicans avoiding war-smitten 
Mexico are now swarming all over the northern side of the 
Rio Grande Valley. A heavy immigration of "Americans" 
from the other states is also helping to increase relatively 
the natives of the United States with native parents of 

52 



NATIONALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS 53 

TEXAS UNITED STATES 

Native white Texans of American parentage . . . 46% 
Native white Texans, one or both parents born 

in Europe 5% 

Native white Texans , 51% 

Native white Americans of American parentage 66% 54% 

Native white Americans, one or both parents 

born in Europe 7% 21% 

Native white Americans 73 75 

Foreign-born Europeans 3 14 

Native Mexican Texans, of Mexican Texan 

parentage 2% 

Native Mexican Texans, one or both parents 

born in Mexico 3% 

Mexicans born in Mexico 8% 

Mexicans • 7 1 

Negroes born in Texas 15% 

Negroes born in other states 2% 

Negroes 17 10 

100 100 

European descent. This element formed 63 per cent, of 
the total population in 1890, 64 per cent, in 1900, and 67 
per cent, in 1910. Texas has gained from other states 
about 850,000, and has lost about 350,000 (more than half 
of them to Oklahoma), making a net gain of 500,000, only 
persons now alive being counted. 

It is clear that Texans stick pretty closely to Texas. 
The rather sudden opening up of Oklahoma to settlement 
after people were pretty thickly scattered around its borders 
caused, of course, a sudden draught that carried nearly 
200,000 native Texans northward across Red River. In 
spite of this exodus, only one native Texan out of seven 
lives in the United States outside of Texas, and only one in 



54 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

sixteen lives outside of Texas and Oklahoma. On the 
average in the United States, 22 per cent, of the natives of 
a state are living outside the state. Texans are beaten at 
this stay-at-home game only by Louisiana, Florida, and 
California, whose "native sons" have departed from their 
birthplaces to the extent of 13 per cent., 12 per cent., and 
10 per cent, respectively. Poor Nevada has lost 52 per 
cent, of her children, and sits, a sort of weeping Niobe, 
among her stones. 

About 51 per cent, of the total native population of Texas 
are white. About 15 per cent, of the total population are 
white Americans who are natives of other states. To this 
group Tennessee has contributed 127,000; Alabama, 110,000; 
Arkansas, 78,000; Mississippi, 77,000; Georgia, 63,000; Mis- 
souri, 57,000; Kentucky, 47,000; Louisiana, 42,000; Illinois, 
34,000, and Oklahoma, 28,000. 

In recent years immigration from the other Southern 
states has decreased, while that from the Northern states 
has increased. Texas is being invaded on one side by 
Mexicans, on the other by Yankees. It is easy for all sorts 
of people to discover that Texas is a good place to live. 

As has already been said, it is impossible to determine 
with any accuracy the various foreign components of our 
complex population. If, as an approximation, we add 
together the number of foreign-born, the number of those 
both of whose parents are foreign-born, and the number of 
those one of whose parents is foreign-born, we find that about 
5 per cent, of the total population is Mexican, 5 per cent, 
is German, and 5 per cent, is divided among all the other 
foreign nationalities. Since Mexicans and Germans have 



NATIONALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS 55 

been coming to Texas for a long time, the percentages they 
bear to the total population are, of course, somewhat larger 
than those just given. For example, many present-day Tex- 
ans are the grandchildren of Germans. Certainly three mill- 
ion or more Texans are of purely European descent. 

Counting Mexicans and Europeans together, we get, 
therefore, almost a sixth of the total population. Two- 
thirds of this foreign element are rural, one-third is urban; 
in numbers about 400,000 and 200,000 respectively. One- 
fifth of the total urban population and one-eighth of the 
total rural population is composed of this foreign element. 
In the whole United States half of the total urban and one- 
fifth of the total rural population is composed of foreigners. 
Both in town and country, therefore, Texas is much more 
American than the United States as a whole. 

As is to be expected, there is a marked tendency on the 
part of the foreign element to cluster in certain districts. 
The Mexicans are naturally to be found mostly along the 
northern side of the Rio Grande. From San Antonio and 
El Paso southward and eastward Mexicans are to be found 
in considerable numbers and are spreading. The German 
population, which began coming in the late "Forties," is 
mainly established between Austin and San Antonio and 
southeastward of these cities nearly to the Gulf. Of 
course there are many Germans in all the cities. The num- 
ber of persons born in Germany and living in Texas is 
decreasing. The Austrian population (chiefly Bohemian) 
is mainly located in two settlement areas, the one composed 
of Lavaca and Fayette counties, the other of Williamson, 
Bell, and McLennan. The Bohemians are largely rural. 



56 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

The Italians are pretty widely scattered, mainly in the 
cities, with rural settlements of about 1,600 in Brazos and 
about 900 in Erath County. The Swedes are largely rural 
and are clustered in Travis and Williamson counties, where 
there are more than 4,000, and in Wharton County, where 
there are several hundred. There are also several hundred 
in each of Galveston, Harris, and Tarrant counties. 

There is a Norwegian colony in Bosque County. There 
are small colonies of various other nationalities scattered 
here and there. In each of the larger cities there are about 
four hundred French and one hundred Greeks. The latter 
are rapidly monopolizing the restaurant business. Of 
the 700 Indians, 200 are in Polk County, 200 in Kinney 
County, and the remaining 300 are widely scattered. 
Nearly half of the 600 Chinese are in El Paso, and the 
remainder are scattered mainly in the cities. Most of the 
340 Japanese are in the coast country raising rice. 

Something in the way of a white man's hope is to be found 
in Texas, where the percentage of negroes in the total popu- 
lation has decreased steadily from 25 per cent, in 1850 to 17 
per cent, in 1915, although, through interstate migration, 
Texas gains about 2,000 negroes a year. The percentage of 
negroes in Texas is about the same as that of Tennessee, 
Maryland, and Delaware. Only to a small extent do the 
negroes prefer the town to the country, the rural and m-ban 
percentages being nearly the same. In the matter of moving 
to town the difference between the races is the same as be- 
tween tweedledum and tweedledee. Practically all of the 
negroes are in the eastern third of the state, and the highest 
percentages of negroes in the population are strikingly con- 



NATIONALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS 57 

fined to the river valleys. The Texas negro is very similar to 
his congener in the rest of the South: he exhibits a marked 
tendency to retreat before the invading Mexican. Sambo 
avoids Jose, although negroes pick up Spanish with con- 
siderable ease. 









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Negroes are so largely confined to the eastern third of the 
state that there are many counties in the western part with 
very few or none at all. Many young Texans, therefore, 
grow up knowing little or nothing about "darkies," and are 
as ignorant as a Vermonter of the "cullud" part of Southern 
life. 

At present there is not much communication between 



58 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Texas and the other Gulf States, the main channels of trade 
running to St. Louis, Kansas City, and to the northeast 
rather than to New Orleans; nevertheless, so many Texans 
have come out of the South, including Missouri and Kentucky 
and Tennessee, that Texas is predominantly Southern in 
thought and feeling. She always "rolls up" a tremendous 
Democratic majority, the Democratic primaries are the 
real elections, and all the political issues that lead to active 
contests arise between different portions of the overwhelm- 
ingly preponderant Democracy. Prohibition has been 
the great dividing wedge, but numerous smaller rifts are 
to be discovered in the Democratic lute, from which, as 
a consequence, clear notes do not always issue. In spite of 
being Southern, Texas is quite different from the South- 
eastern States, due to a very large infusion of Westerners, 
of Germans, and of Mexicans. There is a decidedly Western 
and cosmopolitan "feel." Nevertheless, a good deal of 
provincialism exists. Owing to lack of population to the 
south and west and northwest of Texas, and to the relative 
lack of intercourse with Louisiana and Arkansas, there is 
pretty close contact only with Oklahoma, which, after a 
fashion, is a part of Texas. Consequently Texas is some- 
what off to herself, and this fact, coupled with her great 
area, causes the newspapers and public discussions in Texas 
to direct themselves more exclusively to the affairs of their 
own state than seems to be the case in the other states. 
In fact, Texans are prone to regard themselves as more 
different from the rest of the people of the L^nited States 
than is really the case. "The only difference between 
Texans and other people," says a cosmoj^olitan newcomer. 



NATIONALITY AND CHARACTERISTICS 59 

**is that they think themselves different." Perhaps even 
in this respect there is no difference. Texans certainly 
possess some individuality, but no one as yet has suc- 
cessfully defined the Texas type, dividing it from the 
Southern on one side and the Western on the other. Until 
this is done we must regard the Texan as a chip of the old 
block. Speaking boastfully, and perhaps not untruthfully, 
we may ascribe to him the hospitality and the chivalry of the 
Southerner, the independence and the enterprise of the West- 
erner, and most of the other good qualities of each element in 
his complex ancestry. A highly favorable composite picture 
may be obtained in this way, but here and there exact truth 
will demand some retouching. Some of his food and nearly 
all of his clothes, his machinery, his games, his books, his 
magazines, and his new ideas he imports. Consequently 
he is very like other Americans. He is somewhat different 
from the New Englander and the New Yorker and a few 
others, but that is because they dwell on the periphery of the 
real United States and not between the Alleghenies and the 
Rockies, where, as President James of the University of 
Illinois says, the real and the major portion of the English 
language is going to be spoken in the twenty -first century. 
The Texan doesn't use the broad a nor refer to a girl as a 
" gyurl " nor a spoon as a " spun." He is primarily Southern, 
secondarily Middle North American, and it takes a very care- 
ful observer to pick a Texan out of a group of miscellaneous 
Americans. Of course, if your Texan is talking about Texas, 
the most inexpert ethnologist in the world can spot him at 
once. 



PART III-THE COUNTRY 

'I am tlie plains, barren since Time began, 
Yet do I dream of motherhood, when man 
One day at last shall look upon my charms 
And give me towns like children for my arms. 



CHAPTER I 

THE LAND 

"Just to think about old Texas 

Makes a fellow proud, gee whiz! 
How could anybody blame us 

WTien you know how big she is?" 

— Jennie Lee Blanton. 

r I "^HE 265,000 square miles of land in the political 
entity known as Texas do not form a natural unit 
on the surface of the earth. The state is too large 
to fall within a single natural geographic unit, and the 
various surfaces, soils, climates, plants, and animals which 
characterize the different portions of Texas often extend far 
beyond her borders into Old Mexico, Louisiana, Arkansas, 
Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Man, not Nature, has put 
Texas on the map. 

The general surface slopes from the Gulf of Mexico up- 
ward toward the northwest. Very flat along the coast — 
"Big Hill," for example, near Beaumont, is only twenty feet 
high — with only minor inequalities anywhere, the south- 
eastern third of Texas rises along its northwestern edge to 
500 or 600 feet. This third, specifically called the Gulf 
Slope, divides itself naturally into the Rio Grande Plain, 
the Coastal Plain, the Forested Area, and the Black Prairie. 
The southern part of its northwestern edge is marked by the 
Balcones Scarp, the northern part by the White Rock Scarp. 

Northwest of these scarps or " step-ups" in the general sur- 

63 



64 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

face lies the middle third of Texas, which is diversified by 
many hills and rises to 2,000 feet along its northwestern 
edge. The southern part of this middle third is occupied by 
the Edwards Plateau, and the northern part by the Grand 
Prairie and Central Basin. This Central Basin, so called 
because there is a slight descent to it from the Grand Prairie 




on the east and also from the Staked Plains on the west, is 
divided into north and south portions by the Callahan 
Divide, and into east and west portions by the Coal Meas- 
ures and the Red Beds. (See the geological map on page 71) 
The northwestern edge of this whole middle third is marked 
toward the north by the Staked Plains, or Llano Estacado 



THE LAND 65 

Scarp, commonly known as the ''Breaks of the Plains," and 
toward the south by the Pecos Valley. 

The northwestern third of the state rises to 4,000 feet along 
the New Mexico line and divides itself northeast of the Pecos 
River into the North Plains, or "Panhandle," and Llano 
Estacado, or Staked Plains, and the South Plains; south- 




west of the Pecos it divides itself into the Stockton Plateau 
and Mountain Region. 

All Texas, therefore, slopes upward in a northwesterly 
direction toward the New Mexico and the Colorado Rockies. 
A great deal of Texas is very flat or gently rolling country. 
Hills are to be found in parts of the middle third, sometimes 



66 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

thickly enough scattered to form considerable areas of rough 
country. The only real mountains in Texas are in the \^'est 
and are only lower parts of the Rockies. "In the Trans- 
Pecos there are 78 peaks above 5,000 feet in elevation, 35 
peaks above 6,000 feet, 10 peaks above 7,000 feet." El 
Capitan (8,690 feet), in the Guadalupe Mountains, and 
Baldy Peak (8,382 feet), in Jeff Davis County, are the only 




600 miles 



400 



peaks above 8,000 feet. Fort Davis, at 4,927 feet, looks 
down upon all the other towns. Eighteen west Texas 
mountains overtop any to be found east of the Mississippi, 
but are dwarfed by the main ranges to the north and west 
outside the state. The average elevation of Texas is 1,700 
feet, 45 per cent, of the area being below 1,000 feet. 

As a consequence of this rise toward the northwest, the 
main flow of the rivers is southeastward. With the ex- 
ception of the Canadian and Red rivers, whose waters 
reach the sea by way of the Mississippi, all the main rivers 
empty directly into the Gulf. The Canadian and the Rio 
Grande, with its chief tributary, the Pecos, head in New 
Mexico; the Brazos and Colorado and Red rivers head in 
Texas near its western boundary. The other rivers are 
confined mainly to the Coastal Plain. The Brazos drains 




Granite Mountain Near Marble Falls Where the Quarry of the 
Darragh Brothers Is Merely a Scratch ox a Solid Rock That Covers 
Many Acres and Probably Extends Miles Downward. The State Cap- 
itol AND the Galveston Sea Wall Were Built with Rock from This In- 
exhaustible Quarry of Pink Granite. Gray Granites Abound Nearby 




i titirlc . V of the Bureau oj Economic ueoloi;y, L'luierstly of 1 exa . 

Southern End of Elephant Head, Brewster County. Elevation 6,200 Feet 



J 




Courtesy of Ike Bureau of Eioiwmic Geology 

Southeast Exd of the Diablo Mountains, El Paso County 





\ii'''^J -"-^m 




Phi>to,.:raph Taken Xeiir Liini;lry hy 11'. L. Br,iy 

Sotol or Bear Grass, an Abundant Desert Tlant ok the Agave Area 



THE LAND 67 

nearly a fourth of the state, the Colorado a sixth, the Red 
a tenth, and the Rio Grande a twelfth. The eastern edges 
of the regions bounded by the scarps already mentioned are 
deeply cut into by the headwaters of the rivers. Those 
mentioned, especially the Colorado, are "old" rivers, geo- 




From R. T. Ilill, Twenty-first Annual Report of U. S. Geological Survey 
Contour Map pi Texas 

graphically speaking, the rivers of the Coastal Plain being 
relatively "young." Hundreds of cubic miles of middle 
and west Texas have, during the later geological ages, been 
carried southeastward by these old rivers. With the ex- 
ception of the western mountains and the Balcones Scarp 
(caused by a relative uprising of the Edwards Plateau) the 



68 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

hills of Texas are water made, are merely harder portions 
of the earth which have so far not been carried to lower 
levels by the rains. The Callahan Divide, for example, is 
a "land bridge" composed of remnants of strata which 
elsewhere to the north and south of it have entirely washed 
away. 

All the rivers are subject to great rises that carry down im- 
mense quantities of silt which are deposited by overflows 
on the lowlands. The banks of the rivers are sometimes 
higher than the valley behind; one of the interesting feat- 
ures of irrigation along the lower Rio Grande is the natural 
flow of water away from the river through irrigation canals. 
"\\nbitish rises come from the Edwards Plateau, yellow 
from the eastern part of the Central Basin, red (some- 
times bright vermilion) from the Red Beds. Hence the 
name of Red River: hence various "Paint" creeks. Woe 
to the clothes of any one who accidentally falls into the 
turbid waters of a red rise, for they shall remain red despite 
much subsequent washing in clear waters. Natural dye 
is therefore a product of Texas rivers. 

Since the white man came with his axe and plow and cattle, 
all of which have decreased the forests and destroyed or 
kept short the grass, the eroding power of the streams has 
been greatly increased. The water formerly held back by 
the grasses and trees now rushes down the slopes, carrying 
away precious soil and causing higher and muddier rises 
than in early days. For example, after denudation the 
grassing over of about 1,500 acres which formed the drain- 
age area of a small tributary of the Brazos caused the small 
stream to cease overflowing its banks and to "run" after ^ 



THE LAND 69 

a rain for three days in place of three hours. Fertile soil 
is as yet so cheap and common in Texas that very little 
effort is made to conserve it. But contour ploughing (at 
right angles to the slopes of the fields) is coming slowly into 
fashion and erosion-resisting vegetation is being occasion- 
ally planted. The absence of grass has caused many lateral 
streams which formerly were but slight depressions in the 
prairies to cut back from the main rivers, forming deep 
ravines with steep banks. Old cattle trails and roads have 
also eroded into deep gashes across the earth. Recently 
the legislature has created the office of State Forester and 
has appropriated $10,000 for forest protection, manage- 
ment, and replacement. Though small, the beginnings of 
conservation are to be seen. It is only a question of time 
when more elaborate methods wall be adopted. Kind 
nature, if helped only a little, will quickly restore the coun- 
try to more than its pristine productiveness. 

The absence of grass has stopped the prairie fires that 
formerly kept down the cactus and mesquite and other 
"brush" w^hich are now invading many prairies formerly 
almost devoid of them. The occurrence of mesquite stumps 
where there are now no trees tells of the burnings of former 
forests. Whole regions must have remained free of fires 
long enough for large mesquites to grow; then came the 
fires that burned all but the roots wdiich later furnished the 
only fuel to early settlers over a wide area. 

The Ri'o Grande Plain is but a northern extension of the 
Tierra Caliente, or Hot Country of Mexico; the Coastal 
Plain and the Forested Area are the western parts of the 
great Atlantic Plain ; the western plains of Texas are merely 



70 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

the southern projection of the Great Plains which sweep 
across the United States into Canada. Unless the Rio 
Grande, the Red River, and the Sabine be so regarded, Texas 
has no natural boundary other than the 400 miles of coast 
along the Gulf. Even in this case, the Coastal Plain ex- 
tends beneath the sea, which does not attain a depth of 600 
feet for a hundred miles off shore. Along the coast the 
never-ending combat between sea and land has built up 
long, low-lying, sandy islands. Padre Island, the longest 
of its kind in the world, extends over a hundred miles parallel 
to the coast. These islands inclose shallow lagoons, to 
which, between islands, there are shallow passages from the 
Gulf. It is this situation that has rendered harbor improve- 
ment work so necessary and so beneficial. Had the Gulf 
of Mexico higher tides, the passages between islands might 
be kept cleaned to sufficient depths by tidal currents. A 
slight geologically recent subsidence of the land has formed 
bays which at the mouths of the rivers are rapidly filling 
with sediment. Old Spanish maps of the coastline indicate 
many extensive changes in its bays, peninsulas, and islands 
during the last two hundred and fifty years. 

In Texas there is a particularly close relation between 
the rocks that underlie the surface and the hills, valleys, 
soils, plants, and animals that now occupy this surface. To 
geology, therefore, we must look for an explanation of the 
conditions which, along with amount of rainfall, have deter- 
mined and will continue largely to determine the industries 
and population. 

The accompanying diagrams, not drawn strictly to scale, 
indicate sufficiently the geological situation underground 



THE LAND 71 

and at the surface. Those great sheets of rock which mainly 
He underground but whose outcrops form the surface of the 
earth are indicated by different colors and by their geo- 
logical names somewhat modified for present purposes. In 
geology the word "recent" is to be taken in a strictly Pick- 
wickian sense. The newer strata lie, of course, above the 





Non Marine Recent 
Marine Recent 
Upper Limestones 
Lower Limestones 
Red Beds 
Ck)al Measures 
Oldest Strata 
Granite 
Lavas 



^z \. VGalveston 



--sxVorpus ChriJti O* 



o^ 



Compiled from Simond's Geography of Texas and Reports of the U. S. 
Geological Survey 

older. Not all the rocks of any one of these systems are 
alike, the names being derived from some prominent char- 
acter of the system. The first diagram does not apply to 
the Mountain Region, where the stratified rocks laid down 
by water have been tilted in various directions by igneous 



72 



THE BOOK OF TEXAS 



agencies. The Western Recent is mainly a lake deposit, 
but all the other stratified rocks are marine. The granite 
long ago cooled from a molten or igneous state. Over 
the southeastern two-thirds of the state the strata "dip" 
to the southeast; over the remaining third they dip to the 
northwest. 

In the Central Mineral Region in Llano, Burnet, and 
Gillespie counties a fundamental granitic upthrust has 
lifted up all the stratified rocks, and during the ages that 




have passed since the upthrust, erosion has partly removed 
the uplifted and tilted strata and has eaten away some of 
the granite wherever the formerly overlying stratified rocks 
have been entirely washed away. The granite is exposed 
in huge domes several hundred feet high covering hundreds 
of acres. There is no commercial limit to the amount of it; 
the little that has been removed to build the State Capitol, 
the Galveston sea wall, and various buildings has scarcely 
scratched one of the smaller domes. 

Derived from the wash of extensive lands composed of 
the Oldest Strata, and lying north and east of the Central 
Basin, the Coal Measures, and on top of them the Red 
Beds, were laid down in very ancient seas whose depths 
varied as the ages rolled by. Elevated subsequently into the 



THE LAND 73 

land and deeply eroded, tipped in various ways by the 
ever-palpitating earth, sunk again to deep-sea depths, these 
disturbed and eroded Oldest Strata, 12,000 feet at least 
in thickness, were covered while under the sea to the depths 
of a couple of thousand feet by the remains of sea animals 
which eventually consolidated into limestones, the Lower 
and Upper Limestones. On rising again from the sea, in 
one of those long-time waves that have marked the history 
of the crust of the earth, large portions of these strata have 
been washed away by a weathering process still going on. 
This process has removed much of the LTpper Limestone 
from the Lower and all of the Limestone from those areas 
where the Red Beds and Coal Measures, the Oldest Strata, 
and the granites are now exposed to view. The material 
eroded from all these older strata has gone to make the Re- 
cent Beds of the Coastal Plain, which are, as yet, somewhat 
unconsolidated formations built under water along the slowly 
shifting Gulf shore. This building is still going on and, un- 
less the Coastal Plain again subsides beneath the sea, Texas 
will probably continue to increase slowly, at the expense of 
the Gulf, her already great area for thousands of years to 
come. 

In washing away, these various strata have weathered in 
ways that have given rise to various kinds of landscapes, and 
their wash has formed various kinds of soils. The soft 
clays, sands, and sandstones of the Recent Beds covering the 
southeastern third of Texas form, as does the Western Recent, 
a level or very slightly rolling country that is channelled here 
and there by the streams. 

The rather soft clay, marls, sands, and limestones of the 



74 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Upper Limestones weather into the undulating country and 
"black waxy" soil of the Black Prairie. This black soil is 
so sticky when wet that passage over roads made of it even 
in a very light vehicle is practically impossible at certain 
stages. The mud sticks so to the tires that it is carried in 
sheets toward the tops of the wheels, where, falling by its 
weight around the spokes, there is soon a solid wheel of mud 
weighing hundreds of pounds. Hence arise loud cries for 
good roads, which cries are being slowly answered. Rock 
and gravel are scarce in the black waxy region and sink indef- 
initely into the soil when placed upon it. In severe droughts 
large and deep cracks form in this black soil, which is so fer- 
tile, so deep, and, when wet, so sticky. 

The Upper Limestones, composed largely of fairly hard 
limestone alternating with clays, weather into hills with 
steep sides and nearly flat tops, giving rise in many places 
to a fairly rough type of surface. The Balcones Scarp 
marks a "fault," or crack, in the crust of the earth where the 
Lower Limestones on the west have risen in places as much 
as a thousand feet relatively to the Upper Limestones on the 
east. Owing to erosion, the present height of the scarp no 
longer measures the amount of this rise. 

The Red Beds consist mainly of a somewhat sandy red 
clay, which weathers into long and extensive flats separated 
by scarp lines, a kind of country very much resembling a 
very broad and very flat flight of stairs. In places these 
Red Beds afford a rough, deeply cut country without rocks. 
In Stonewall County this type of country is to be found to 
perfection. Portions of the walls of the canons falling down 
leave exposed white streaks of gypsum which often extend 



THE LAND 75 

from top to bottom of the canons and soon weather to the 
prevaiHng red. Gypsum and salt abound in the Red Beds, 
producing purgative waters and that saltiness of the Upper 
Brazos which is appreciable far down the river. It was of 
Rio Grande, not of Brazos, water, however, that the poet 
wrote : 

" For he had some water, or rather some dregs, 
A regular cathartic that smelled like bad eggs." 

The Coal Measures, made up largely of soft shales and 
clay with some sandstones and conglomerates, have eroded 
into ridges of flat-topped hills surrounded by wide clay flats 
with soils of very variable fertility. It is the Recent Beds, 
the Upper Limestones, and the Red Beds that furnish the 
fertile soils of Texas in solid bodies of tens of thousands of 
acres. 

To add the spice of variety to these vast, nearly uniform 
and almost horizontal sheets of earth laid down under the 
primal seas, volcanic rocks exist here and there in some 
abundance. First there is the up-tossed granitic Central 
Mineral Region, which is so interesting to geologists because 
of the peculiar tilting of its strata and because of its very 
various minerals (Llano County alone has more than 100 
of the nearly 180 varieties of minerals found in Texas); 
second, there are some large flows of lava and other volcanic 
rocks in the Trans-Pecos; lastly, there are a few eroded out- 
crops of basalt, remnants of very ancient volcanic action, and 
widely but sparsely scattered over the Coastal Plain. 



CHAPTER II 

THE CLI^L\TE 

"0 come, my love, and go with me 
Right through the norther's cold; 
What matters if the wind blow hard. 
Are we not tough and bold?" 

— County Liner, pseudonym of a star route mail man. 

THE lines of equal annual rainfall run nearly north 
and south, the rainfall steadily diminishing from 
fifty -five inches on the east to ten inches at El Paso. 
Evaporation, on the contrary, steadily increases from forty- 
five inches on the east to ninety inches at the west. Ob- 
viously, humid conditions prevail to the east and arid con- 
ditions in the west. Irrespective of the prohibition issue, 
Texas is permanently divided into wet and dry. The region 
where the annual rainfall is between thirty and forty inches 
is sometimes affected by drought; the region where it is be- 
tween twenty and thirty inches it is often so affected. 
Drainage is needed in the east and along the coast; irriga- 
tion is needed in the west. 

Fortunately where the rainfall is deficient its distribution 
through the year is generally rather favorable to vegetation. 
Occasionally the precipitation for a whole year falls in a 
week or two. Winter is the dryest season; spring is the 
wettest in the middle third of Texas; summer is the wettest 
over west Texas generally; fall is the wettest only along the 
southwestern coastline. 

76 



THE CLIMATE 77 

East of the line of forty-inch rainfall there is generally no 
scarcity of water, and humid conditions with luxuriant vege- 
tation prevail. The wet springs followed by dryer summers 
which prevail over central Texas are particularly suited to 
cotton and are not unfavorable to many other crops. Early 
planting to avoid the dry summers is practised. Occasion- 




Compiled by U. S. Weather Bureau 

ally when there are general summer rains two and even three 
crops are raised, and prosperity rules supreme. West of the 
thirty-inch line of rainfall dry -weather crops must of course 
be depended upon, though many standard crops are grown 
in profusion in favorable seasons. A single crop in this 



78 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

region has often paid for the land upon which it was raised. 
West of the twenty-inch Hne native grasses and dry -weather 
crops grow in decreasing amounts. The winter snows of the 
Panhandle have made that region a great wheat-producing 
area. Snow, however, rarely reaches to the Gulf, and in 
south Texas a fall of snow causes a suspension of business and 
much merrymaking. 

The rainfall is subject to very wide variations, and "only 
a fool or a newcomer will try to predict the weather in 
Texas." At Austin, for example, the recorded annual pre- 
cipitation varies from nineteen to fifty -four inches, and the 
variations in the monthly precipitation are of course much 
more extreme. Cloudbursts, wet seasons, droughts, in most 
of Texas, must be expected to interfere with the usual fall of 
the rains. The rainmaker, using various devices, has plied 
his vocation at various places with varying success. At 
times luck has favored him with a shower or even a cloud- 
burst; at other times the clear skies calmly exposed the 
futility of his efforts. 

The extent to which modern man, using scientific meth- 
ods, will be able to conquer droughts awaits the deter- 
mination of the future. Some further conquest is certain. 
The country of the permanent range stock business has 
two elastic boundaries : the desert on the one side, the farms 
on the other. The population flows westward after good 
seasons and ebbs eastward after bad, each ebb tide leaving 
increased numbers. Mastery of arid conditions by man 
grows better as time goes on. It is a favorite but unsup- 
ported theory of western "boosters" that the rainfall is 
increasing. It may be, but there is no record to prove it. 



THE CLIMATE 79 

and changes in climate are too slow to be noticed by casual 
observers. That "this drought is unusual" is another 
theory of the dry-land boosters that is contradictory of 
the former. The native vegetation tells the true tale, and, 
as Vernon Bailey says, "Even after a season of copious rain- 
fall in a valley clothed with cactus and scrubby mesquite 
trees, the experienced ranchman knows better than to plow 
and plant with the idea that the following season will be 
similar." Speaking of booms in the arid regions the very 
country itself combines with unscrupulous or overenthu- 
siastic land agents to deceive the newcomer; the country 
actualty lies about itself. At certain times, especially after 
good rains, so luxuriant are the grasses and flowers that one 
can scarcely believe drought or crop failure is possible. 
But all that glitters is not gold, and the pasture that one 
year is waving with grass may the next year have almost no 
verdure to hide its nakedness. The ebb of the small farm- 
ers — "nesters" — during and after droughts is watched with 
joyful eyes by the old cowman who is "glad to see the damn 
nesters leaving." 

Western Texas will increase in population and the popu- 
lation will be prosperous, but the majority of Texans are 
likely to continue to live in the eastern third of the state, 
where rain may be expected without risk of disappointment. 

The march of agriculture in a semi-arid land is full of 
hope and disappointment, of progress and setbacks. Ac- 
cording to disposition or interest, one person emphasizes 
the progress, another the setback. The boomer maintains 
that all is safe with that human tide that a few years ago 
swept over the Panhandle and lifted the price of the land 



80 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

from two dollars an acre to forty. The pessimist, usually 
an old timer, prophesies drought, repeated crop failures, 
and deserted towns. "Just as good a country as back 
East," is the cry of the optimist. "Farming has reached its 
top notch here," is the cry of the pessimist. \Mio is right.'* 
Partial failures occur, universal failures do not. 

In general, Texas is a land of Italian color, beautiful 
clouds floating over violet-topped hills, "with cattle, cattle, 
cattle, and sage and sand and sun." „ Clear skies, clear air, 
and almost dazzling sunshine are the rule. Dr. I. M. Cline 
summarizes the situation as follows: "The southeastern 
portion of the state has 55 to 65 per cent., while the Trans- 
Pecos region and the Panhandle have 65 to 75 per cent, of 
the possible sunshine. Very few days pass in Texas with- 
out some sunshine. Along the Gulf Coast it is approxi- 
mated that the sun shines to some extent 320 days out of a 
year, and the number of days with some sunshine is greater 
than this over other portions of the state." In spite of 
the truth of this, no Texas hotel man has yet followed the 
example of that boniface of Yuma, Arizona, who offers free 
board on every cloudy day. 

Fortunately it is not correct to apply to Texas the words 
used by a cowboy in speaking of a certain Western state, 
"She's a drop of water in the hot sunshine on a big rock in a 
pile of sand." The eastern third of Texas is abundantly 
supplied witli good underground and surface waters, ex- 
cept near the coast, where the underground waters are 
salty, and over the Rio Grande Plain, where they are often 
alkaline and unsuited for drinking or irrigation. Artesian 
water is also abundant, particularly in the region of the 



THE CLIMATE 81 

Upper Limestone, coming in fine quality from the Trinity 
Sands, a stratum near the bottom of the Lower Limestone. 
The upHft of the Lower Limestone to the west has caused, 
at the foot of the Balcones Scarp, a series of artesian springs 
which are among the largest in the world, so large as actu- 
ally to furnish water-power. Wells and a few springs are 
to be found to the westward of the Upper Limestone, but 
increasing reliance must be put upon the storing of storm 
water in artificial reservoirs, fine specimens of which are to 
be found at Wichita Falls, Stamford, and Sweetwater. 
Artesian w^ells are rare and the water of deep wells is highly 
mineralized. Over the middle third of Texas the storing 
of all the storm water that now runs off, carrying good soil 
with it, is a conquest of nature that is certain to come about. 
Nor will this storing affect the navigability of the rivers 
of this region, for they are not navigable now and never will 
be. "Pork barrel" money has been spent to a very great 
advantage in dredging Texas harbors and may be spent to 
advantage on the lower portions of the coastal rivers. Else- 
where it is better to build post-offices with it. Still, George 
Fitch was rather hard on the Texas rivers when he said 
they had to be watered in the summer to keep them from 
getting dusty. In dry countries water is far more useful 
for irrigation than for navigation or for power, and any use 
of it in the last two ways should be subservient to its use in 
the first. "All that hell needs is fine water and good soci- 
ety" is a favorite saying in the thinly settled dry country. 
Here and there dams along the streams are sources of 
water-power. The Austin dam across the Colorado, built 
in 1893, washed away in 1900, and recently rebuilt, is the 



82 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

most conspicuous example. Water-power in Texas is scanty, 
because where there is plenty of water the country is too 
flat to make a fall, and where there is plenty of fall there is 
no water. A west Texas man at Beaumont during a heavy 
rain reported that the country was so flat the rain accumu- 
lated to such an extent that he was forced to leave his hotel 
from a second-story window by means of a boat. The 
second-stor}^ was an exaggeration; perhaps even the boat 
was merely a wooden sidewalk afloat. In the coast towns 
it is not unusual to see carriages sunk in mudholes in un- 
paved streets waiting patiently for dry weather when their 
owners can dig them out and put them going again. 

On the Plains and elsewhere there is enough water for 
some irrigation from wells of moderate depth, the water 
being pumped by thousands of windmills moved by the 
unfailing winds. Enthusiastic local wiseacres maintain 
that underground water exists in almost unlimited amounts, 
but, when pressed for reasons, they resort to explanations 
that are mysterious and unsatisfactory. The water is 
really local rainwater which has percolated downward, 
but the wiseacres suppose it to have come down from the 
Rocky Mountains or up from the Great Lakes, or sideways 
from some other equally unlikely source. As yet we know 
only roughly how much of the rainfall evaporates, how much 
runs off down the rivers, how much sinks into the ground. 
Plowing increases the sinkage, removal of vegetation de- 
creases it. It is plain, however, that there is not enough 
water underground to irrigate more than a small part of the 
total surface. Only the future can tell us the irrigation 
possibilities of the West, which are probably great in amount 













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Courtesy of Farm and Riiuh 

A Typical Bakb Wire and Mesquite Post Fence 




Grand Fai>ls in Winter. ('AMri;Ei,L and IIardinc; Ran( h. Palo Diro Canon 




Conrleiy of the Dalla . \ , .. . 

The Trinity River at L(xk and Dam No. 1 about Eighteen Miles Below 
Dallas Which Is After Deep Water via the Trinitt and Congress 




Coiirifsy of the Dallas .Vra'i 

A View of the Trinity River Near Dallas at Flood Time. A Texas and 
Pacu'Ic Trestle Has Uekn Washkd Down 



THE CLIMATE 85 

of products but small in acreage compared with the total 
area. 

As a matter of fact, the story of the underground waters 
in many places is going to be the story of free grass over 
again. In free grass days, a bunch of cattle could be driven 
into a country already occupied by all the cattle it could 
carry, and the result was starvation. Nowadays a well 
may be drilled where other wells are already using all the 
available water, and the result is a lowering of the artesian 
pressure, or of the water level, as the case may be. The 
law in regard to riparian rights is sufficiently confused, but 
the law governing the sinking of wells has yet to be made. 
You can take all of a man's underground water away from 
him if you go deep enough to tap his supply. Under- 
ground oil is like underground water, and to prevent the 
other fellow from getting all of it the derricks of wells are 
crowded into the petroleum fields until their foundations 
sometimes touch. Neither conservation nor economical pro- 
duction is possible under such unrestricted competition. 

The mean annual temperature ranges from 55° in the 
Panhandle to 72° in the extreme south. Everywhere 
spring and fall are delightful, while the winters of the south- 
ern half and the summers of the western third leave little 
to be desired. Except in this third the mean summer tem- 
perature is about 81°, with infrequent and delightful drops 
to 60° and numerous and painful rises to 100° and over. 

"The heat in the summer is a 110, 
Too hot for the devil and too hot for men." 

^Mien it gets above 95°, however, it is counted "pretty 
hot" and cooler weather soon relieves the situation. In 



84 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

1908, at the same hour, the thermometer stood 16° below 
at Texhne, and 84° above at Brownsville. The monthly 
mean temperatures at Amarillo and Brownsville differ to 
an extent that reveals the size of Texas. In January the 
difference is 24°, in February 25°, in March 23°, in April 
18°, in May 14°, in June 9°, in July 8°, in August 9°, in 
September 11°, in October 18°, in November 20°, in Decem- 
ber 23°. Nearly always the nights are cool and invigo- 
rating. The soft, steady Gulf breezes of the summer and the 
frequent clear and warm sunshiny days of the winter are 
the two great charms of the Texas climate. The summer 
breezes make perfect nights, the winter sunshine makes 
perfect days. In making fair comparisons with eastern 
temperatures, on account of the great evaporation, some 
10° or 15° must be subtracted from the Texas summer 
records. The human and the mercury thermometers for- 
tunately do not register exactly alike. Sunstroke is prac- 
tically unknown. 

The average winter temperatures range from 35° in the 
Panhandle, with a minimum of 16° below, to 60° in the ex- 
treme south, with a low record of 12° above. April 15th 
and November 1st are the average last and first frost dates 
for the Panhandle. JSiarch 15th and November 18th are 
the dates for central Texas. These dates vary at least 
three weeks in different years. The number of freezing 
days ranges from more than one hundred in the north 
to three or two or none on the south coast. The lines 
of equal rainfall run north and south, the isotherms run 
nearly east and west; as a result Texas is cut into a 
checkerboard whose squares have slightly different climates 



THE CLIMATE 85 

and crops. The following advice, however, is generally 
applicable : 

"But stay at home in Texas where the work lasts the year around, 
And you never catch consumption by sleeping on the ground." 

The heat of the summer is further greatly modified by 
the Atlantic trade winds, which blow fairly constantly 
throughout the summer and intermittently throughout the 
winter, in which season they are much interrupted by 
"northers," or cold waves, that blow across the state and 
into Mexico with diminished violence toward the south. 
Many northers die out before reaching the Gulf, but some 
extend into Mexico as far as Vera Cruz. In the Panhandle, 

"Where the hot wind blows right after it snows 
And the prairie dog kneels on the backs of his heels 
And fervently prayeth for rain," 

northers are often too severe to be welcome, but over the 
southern half of the state they form a pleasant feature of 
the climate and are gratifying to the farmers because they 
are supposed to (and probably do) kill the larva of many 
insects. Mild northers occur even in the summer and are 
then generally preceded by sultry calms, much lightning, 
and some rain. Northers are both "wet" and "dry," with 
the latter preponderating. Texas winters consist largely 
of a recurring cycle of southeast wind, intermediate warm 
calm, sudden norther slowly dying away, and then south- 
east wind again. The drop in temperature at the begin- 
ning of a norther is very sudden, amounting sometimes to 
40° or 50° in an hour or so, but the return to normal tem- 
perature is much slower. So sudden is the drop that a 



86 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

standard, and not very untruthful, story tells about a too 
inquisitive fish that, desiring to see if the long, low cloud- 
bank to the north meant a "blue" norther, leaped out of 
the water only to fall back on the ice, an unintentional case 
of burning one's bridge behind one. Bob Taylor of Ten- 
nessee, among his Texas stories, describes how an ox driver 
was prevented, by the freezing of their carcasses, from 
skinning two oxen that had just died of heat while he was 
slowly driving them yoked to an empty wagon. 

So constantly do the winds blow in the western half that 
windmills are an absolutely reliable source of power. When 
the newcomer asks the oldest inhabitant "if the wind blows 
this way all the time," he gets for his answer, "It blows the 
other way a part of the time." Cyclones sometimes occur, 
but rarely, and after the appearance of one in a region there 
is a tremendous and prairie-dog-like activity in the construc- 
tion of semi-subterranean "storm cellars," which are so in- 
viting to centipedes and snakes that they are usually found 
in them when the proper owners seek refuge from a storm. 
Tropical storms of great violence sometimes, but rarely, 
wander to the Texas coast, and at long intervals do great 
damage. In 1875 the little town of Indianola, at the west 
end of Matagorda Bay, was entirely swept away, with the 
loss of nearly two hundred lives. The great storm of 1900, 
which swept the sea over the island and the city of Galveston, 
drowned several thousand people and destroyed an im- 
mense amount of property. The storm of 1915 caused the 
loss of several hundred lives and a great deal of property along 
the coast. 

As a home of the white race Texas is so healtliful that she 




Indian Blankets on the Campus of the A. & M. College of Texas 

A Photograph of Wild Deer Made in Southwest Texas 

Rain Lilies on L'niversity of Texas Campus, Austin 




The Green Jui* \ Li^.ivi,., ,iu..vi,i>i lai. silmoi ok tiil; Cac il.^ 15i,ak Large, 
Protective, Needlelike Spines and Clusters of Short, Red, Easily De- 
tached Stickers 
Selective Breeding Has Given Rise to a Spineless and Stickerless Cul- 
tivated Cactus 
A Mexican Singeing the Spines and Stickers from the Growing Wild Cac- 
tus with a Gasolene Torch. One Man Can Provide Forage for a Hundred 
Cattle. When very Hungry Cattle Sometimes Eat ihe Cactus Before It 
Is Singed 



THE CLIMATE 87 

has not yet found it necessary to keep any very accurate 
account of births or deaths. On the other hand, it is a 
shght exaggeration to claim, as many locaUties do, that 
their healthfulness is so great that people have to move 
away to die. The death rate is so small that a consider- 
able number of patriotic Texans, ashamed of its smallness, 
endeavor to increase it by engaging in mortal combat with 
others equally patriotic and pugnacious. Perhaps this is 
one of the reasons that the percentage of people over 65 
is only half what it is in non-belligerent Massachusetts! 
The general experiences of various communities, and the 
incomplete vital statistics kept, show Texas to have a very 
health-giving climate. People frequently live to great 
ages, and sickness in summer is less frequent than in 
winter. There is no disease which the climate seems to 
encourage to any unusual extent, and all west Texas is cor- 
rectly regarded as a health resort. In the humid portions 
malaria, of course, occurs, but not to any alarming extent. 
Even in the wettest portions of east Texas, wherever the 
smallest and most elementary sanitary precautions have 
been taken, the school children are as healthy looking as 
they are anywhere. The bracing northers of the winters 
and the great evaporation of the summers combine to make 
Texas very healthful all the year around. The Texas 
sun is a powerful germicide, and the general health is re- 
markably good, although sanitation is as yet in its infancy. 
WTien Texas people cooperate properly with the Texas sun, 
the state will stand comparison with the most healthful 
country in the world. Most of the typhoid that occurs is 
easily preventable, yellow fever has not been seen for many 



88 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

years, dengue has been rare, malignant smallpox is nearly 
unknown, even among the most ignorant Mexicans. Some 
hookworms are to be found in east Texas; the deadly an- 
opheles mosquito is rare but not unknown. Considering 
the general indifference to sanitation and the lack of strin- 
gent means to prevent the spread of contagious and infectious 
diseases, the death rate seems to be fairly low. Fortunately 
indifference is rapidly changing to vigilance. 

The long summers may be enervating; they are certainly 
not unhealthful. For work, the dry summer is better than 
the damp spring, but one can work all the year round with- 
out injury. A shortening of the summers would improve 
them. Many persons, who have grown hale and hearty 
living through many Texas summers, acquiring five thousand 
a year, find it desirable to spend a month or two of the sum- 
mer in cooler climes. Wlien they have ten thousand a year 
they find it necessary! Climatology and finance are prett^^ 
closely related. 



CHAPTER III 

THE WILD LIFE 

"And the little gray hawk hangs aloft in the air, 
And the sly coyote trots here and there, 
And the black snake glides and glitters and slides 
Into a rift in the cottonwood tree." 

—"Lasca." 



"^ HE distribution of plants and animals in Texas has 
been much more affected by the amount of rainfall 
than by latitude. The areas of distribution of 
plants and animals are therefore often strips of country run- 
ning north and south. The larger life zones of Texas are 
shown on the accompanying map. Rainfall has located the 
eastern edge of the Mesquite Zone, but the height above the 
sea and latitude have located the western and northern 
edges. Temperature has fixed the northern boundary of 
the Huisache Area. Rain, or the lack of it, has fixed the 
Forest Area and the Mesquite Zone. Northers have had a 
tremendous effect in preventing the occurrence of wild tropi- 
cal plants and animals and the cultivation of semi-tropical 
fruits such as the orange and the banana. Cheap protection 
from occasional freezes is the great desideratum of the citrus 
fruit industry. Smudge fires have been used advantageously, 
but high winds sometimes render them ineffective. Whether 
northers or men will win in this citrus fruit contest is as yet 

somewhat undecided. 

The life zones shown on the map are "based on the oc- 

89 



90 



THE BOOK OF TEXAS 



currence of native plants and animals and form a sure and 
inexpensive guide to selecting the kinds of crops most suit- 
able to a given locality." The United States Department of 
Agriculture has mapped these life zones with great care in the 
belief that in so doing much wasteful and unwise and ex- 
pensive agricultural experimentation would be prevented. 




UFE ZONES MAP 

■ Mountain Pine Zone 
ID Western Plains Zone 



V/////////A Mesquite Part of Southern Zone 
feii>w»igiiMt Humid Part of Southern Zone 



From Bulletin No. 25 N. A. Fauna, U. S. Department of Agriculture 

"The division of the state into wheat, cotton, and stock- 
raising districts is no matter of accident, nor is it a matter of 
choice on the part of those engaged in the various industries 
— the normal conditions limiting life zones cannot be ma- 
terially overcome, nor can they be safely ignored," 



THE WILD LIFE 91 

In the Forest Area of the Humid Zone there is an abun- 
dant growth of cypress, tupelo, palmetto, and hickory in 
the swamps; of hickory, magnoHa, sweet and sour gum, oak, 
sycamore, willow, and holly in the river bottoms; of loblolly 
pine, short-leaf pine, long-leaf pine, post oak, dogwood, sassa- 
fras, and other trees too numerous to mention on the up- 
lands. The long-leaf pine of Texas and Louisiana is said 
to form the finest body of standing timber left in America. 
Spanish moss and numerous vines cling to the trees, while 
cotton, corn, fruits, and vegetables are grown in luxuriant 
abundance. In east Texas there is still that abundance of 
good things to eat which seems to have marked the days be- 
fore the war as well as the days before high prices. It is so 
easy to make a living there that this very ease is an impedi- 
ment to the progress of the people. Nature hands them too 
much. The Black and Grand prairies in the Humid Zone 
are nearly free of trees except along the streams, and their 
generally black soil differentiates their vegetation somewhat 
from the more sandy land to the east. The Humid Zone 
covers only one-third of Texas but is the home of three- 
fourths of the people. 

The Mesquite Zone is in rather marked contrast to the 
Humid. It has elms, pecans, cottonwoods, and willows 
along the streams, with oaks, cedars, and hackberries on the 
hills. Much of the timber is stunted, and when it occurs in 
thick patches is called chaparral or shinnery. The timber 
occurs scattered and in groups of various sizes, small patches 
of oaks or hackberries being called mottes. There is much 
land nearly or entirely free of timber, and such prairie areas 
in their natural state are covered with various nutritious 



92 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

grasses, and in season with billions of wild flowers in great 
variety. The mesquite tree, with its heavy and durable 
wood, feathery leaves, and nourishing beans, marks the 
whole zone. In places it forms dense thickets, but it is often 
sparsely scattered, when, at a distance, a mesquite valley 
looks something like a peach orchard. The mesquite 
rarely reaches thirty feet, grows straight enough to make 
fence posts only, and gives a useful shade which does not pre- 
vent the grass from growing under it. "Its spread, during 
the past fifty years, has been a marked phenomenon: it has 
passed the Brazos. It has pushed northward over the 
Staked Plains, covering half their area. Miles of the level 
prairie in the Abilene country are covered by mesquite. 
San Antonio is half surrounded. The coming of the mesquite 
has brought a vast deal of wood and much forage, but the 
agricultural areas do not need these at the price, and the 
more arid areas would be better off in the long run in open 
grass pastures." Cacti of many kinds are found in the 
jMesquite Zone, the commonest and most conspicuous being 
the prickly pear, which bears a not unpleasant fruit and 
thick, juicy leaves that, divested of their large thorns and 
numerous small stickers, are an excellent food for cattle 
when properly mixed with other materials. The numerous 
grasses of this zone have formed the basis of the great range 
cattle industry, though the plow of the farmer and over-graz- 
ing have greatly reduced them from the palmy early days. 
A little care will bring them back again except in the plowed 
fields; and it is certain that many cattle will continue to be 
raised in this zone which was once the winter home of in- 
credible numbers of buffaloes. 



THE WILD LIFE 93 

The Hulsache Area of the Mesquite Zone, with its palm, 
huisache, bananas, and oranges, has a semi-tropical flavor. 
The Agave Area on the southwest represents the invasion of 
the desert which bears the agave, the creosote or greasewood 
bush, screw beans, ocotillo, sotol, and bee bushes. The 




From Bulletin No. 47, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 
Distribution of Mesquite 

guayule furnishes some rubber, the agave furnishes fine 
fibres, screw beans are good cattle food. A single rain covers 
the good soil of the valleys with flowers that mature without 
any other water. 

The Western Plains Zone, whose vegetation consists 



94 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

chiefly of grasses, on steep slopes has also pines, junipers, 
mimosas, and yuccas. Over most of the real plains trees 
and even bushes are so entirely absent that a little girl 
from Hereford on leaving there for the first time wrote 
home: "Dear Papa, you just ought to see the trees growing 
wild here in Austin." Hundreds of "tumble weeds," which 
grow in globular form and are broken off at the ground in 
the fall, in high winds roll rapidly across the plains in a 
seemingly joyful race. The weeds are often stopped by 
barb-wire fences, along which, as a nucleus, the weeds pile 
many feet high. Here grow also several kinds of the famous 
"loco" weed, so called because cattle and horses who eat 
this weed stagger about and behave somewhat curiously, 
loco meaning crazy in Spanish. Horses get "locoed" 
oftener than cattle, usually from eating the weed in early 
spring, before the green grass has come. Loco is not such a 
menace when pastures afford sufficient grass. 

On the tops of the western mountains the vegetation is 
that of the mountains of New Mexico and Colorado, where 
grow the yellow pine and even the wild potato. But the 
Mountain Pine Zone is of small area and relatively un- 
important. On the tops of the highest mountains a few 
Canadian plants are to be found, outlying islands of very 
northern vegetation. Similarly the tops of the highest hills 
of the Edwards Plateau are covered with outlying islands of 
plants of the Western Plains Zone. 

Something must be said about the native flowers which 
abound in masses of many acres and in a variety that defies 
special listing. The yuccas and cacti speckle the desert 
with bright colors, the blue bonnet and various "weeds" 




"3 9 



THE WILD LIFE 95 

■ cover hundreds of acres of prairie with blue and yellow and 
red and riots of various colors. The primroses made 
famous by De Vries, the phloxes of many colors, euphor- 
bias, salvias, Texas plumes, Texas fire wheels, asters, rain 
lilies, orange cosmos, coreopses, and paint cups are widely 
and abundantly scattered. The hyacinth, the parrot feather, 
the calladium, and the algae grow in the lasting streams 
and ponds not much subject to overflow, sometimes 
blocking them with luxuriance. Among vines there are 
the clematis and convolvulus, the smilax and the passion 
flower, ipomea and grapes, poison oak and ivy. Natural 
flower gardens and parks are to be found offset by uncov- 
ered, sun-beaten slopes that have also their charm to one 
who has learned to know them. Mistletoe is so abundant 
as to be something of a pest. In south Texas the long 
gray Spanish moss hangs in dense and beautiful clusters 
from many trees, especially from live oaks in the bottoms. 

The vast herds of buffaloes, the thousands of antelopes, 
the great flocks of turkeys, the swarms of prairie chickens 
of former days now exist only in pitiful remnants. A few 
tame and half-breed buffaloes, "cattaloes," on the Good- 
night Ranch in the Panhandle are all that are left of the 
great southern herd that a century ago was counted in 
hundreds of thousands. Extermination of the animals of 
the prairie has proceeded more rapidly than in the case 
of those of the rough or wooded regions. Panthers, cata- 
mounts, bears, wildcats, beavers, otters, eagles, swans, 
white pelicans, and other larger annuals have become so 
rare that the sight of one is quite an event to the average 
Texan. Game laws are preserving fairly successfully deer, 



96 THi: BOOK OF TEXAS 

quails, and doves, but the laws are not very well enforced in 
those remote regions where game is most abundant. The 
coon, the 'possum, the coyote (the real prairie dog whose 
name has been stolen by an overly abundant ground rodent 
whose bark is doglike and whose entire anatomy is decidedly 
squirrel -like), eight varieties of skunk (including the phoby 
cat or spotted skunk, whose hydrophobia qualities are, to 
say the least, quite hypothetical), seventy varieties of rats 
and mice and gophers, eighteen varieties of squirrels, nine 
kinds of rabbits, the mink, the fox, many non-game birds, 
snakes and insects galore are maintaining themselves with 
more or less success. The grazing of cattle, the plow, the 
axe and the gun of the white man have profoundly upset the 
balance of nature, have affected almost all species, and 
the end of the resulting changes is not -yet. Rabbits and 
coyotes, wolves, panthers, and other carnivorous animals 
are sometimes so numerous and harmful that state, local, 
and even individual bounties are offered for their scalps. 
To the sportsman the distressing lack of big game is in 
part met by the abundance of small. Rabbit drives that 
result in the death of hundreds of rabbits and unlimited 
sport for the small boy are not infrequent. A recent *'rat 
war" in Atascosa County eliminated nearly a million rats, 
Guido Struve, a twelve-year-old boy, winning the registered 
Jersey heifer prize with 17,071 rats to his credit. A recent 
news item reports that John Corbett, the prince of Texas 
trappers, in less than six weeks caught forty-nine coyotes, 
five wildcats, and one lobo near San Angelo. More than 
3,000 miles of wolf -proof fence have been built in west Texas 
in the last few years at a cost of half a million dollars. The 



THE WILD LIFE 97 

long ears of jack (or jackass) rabbits are often bought with 
an official price, and the prairie dog flourishes by millions 
amid a perfect fusillade of abuse which consists more of 
words than of actions, although he is a frequent target for 
the "22" rifle. These dogs destroy even the roots of much 
grass, but are greatly admired by the snakes and the badgers 
that live upon them, and possibly by the little burrowing 
owls (amusing in shape and in gestures) who use deserted 
dog holes for dwelling-places. Out on the great prairies of 
west Texas the bark of the prairie dog sitting on his burrow 
mound, the low sweeps of the hawks as they search the sur- 
face to catch unawares some rodent, the flocks of the ir- 
regularly flying ravens, blue quails running swiftly away, 
immense flocks of the beautiful lark bunting, mule-eared 
jack rabbits everywhere, cattle at tanks fed by pumping 
windmills, fields of milo maize and Kaffir corn, the smoke of 
trains many miles away, and even the automobile speeding 
along natural roads between towns a hundred miles apart, 
are constant features. 

Texas is part of a much-used path of migratory birds, 
and nearly all tJie North American species of ducks, geese, 
snipe, and plover are to be found in season especially along 
the coast, where they swarm in thousands, though steadily 
decreasing from year to year. Migration brings also black- 
birds and bobolinks, and numerous songbirds. It is a fact 
that three-fourths of all the varieties of North American 
birds have been seen in Texas. The state is a meeting-place 
of the Atlantic East and the Pacific West, birds of both 
sections being found. In the extreme south the semi- 
tropical armadillo, ocelot, peccary, and alligator are to 



98 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

be found, where also the occurrence of the frigate-bird, cara- 
cara eagle, chachalaca, white ibis, roseate spoonbill, sea- 
gulls, terns, herons, rails, coots, gallinules, egrets, brown 
pelicans of the whole Gulf Coast, and birds from the East 
and birds from the West made the "Brownsville country" 
famous among ornithologists for forty years before it at- 
tracted attention as an ideal place for raising "early garden 
truck." Nowhere else in the United States is there such a 
diverse combination of birds. 

Bats in central Texas dwell by millions in caves that 
contain almost commercial quantities of guano. They 
also find a dwelling place in poorly constructed buildings. 
Swallows nest in swarms along the cliffs and covered places. 
The diurnal insects of Texas are pursued all day by swallows 
and fly-catchers, the nocturnal by nighthawks and bats, 
by poor-wills and chuck-will -widows. 

No mention has yet been made of ever-present birds 
known to all Texans. The buzzard, or turkey vulture, 
of which there are two kinds, is by day always a feature 
of the landscape. Soaring at great heights, a black spot 
against a blue sky, he is a beautiful sight; nearby his naked 
neck and carrion diet render him repulsive. 

"The buzzard sails on and comes, and is gone. 
Stately and still like a ship at sea." 

So vigilant an undertaker is he that if you put a piece of 
limburger cheese in your pocket and lie quite still he will 
begin to consider suitable funeral arrangements for you. 
He is an untiring scavenger, and the wonder is how he finds 
food enough to support so many of him. The chaparral 



THE WILD LIFE 99 

bird or ground cuckoo, almost incapable of flight, erects 
both tail and crest as it stops after a short run and snaps 
its beak at you. Fresh eggs and haK-grown young are 
often found in its nest together. The black cowbird is 
wholly parasitic, laying its eggs always in the nests of 
other birds. Crows, large long-tail blackbirds, larkfinches, 
scissor-tails or birds of paradise, blue jays, redbirds, wrens, 
and the mocking-bird must complete our list of common 
birds. As Maurice Thompson says, "The last has been 
called the American nightingale, with a view, no doubt, to 
inflicting a compliment known to all, of damning with faint 
praise." The mocking-bird is much more than a consum- 
mate mimic, for he has a multitude of songs of his own. 
His music comes from almost every tree. As Uncle Remus 
says, "Dey ain't nobody what kin stan' flatfooted an' say 
dat Brer Bull Frog is a better singer dan de mockin'- 
bird." 

Lizards in great numbers and of more than thirty different 
kinds are to be found. The little green-striped lizard of the 
roadside, the large barklike tree lizard, and the big pale 
bluish-green rock lizard are the best-known species, if ex- 
ception be made of the horned lizard, which is commonly 
called the horned frog or toad. Snakes also, it must be ad- 
mitted, occur in this Texas paradise to the extent of over 
thirty different kinds. Suffice it to mention the harmless 
coach-whip, black, bull, and water snakes, and the poison- 
ous coral, copperhead, cottonmouth, moccasin, and eight 
varieties of rattlesnakes. In spite of numerous tales to the 
contrary, these snakes with poison fangs are not very numer- 
ous. It may be that there are "hills full of rattlesnakes 



100 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

thirteen feet long," but they are rare and fade farther away 
the more one seeks them. In seventeen days "we saw only 
five rattlesnakes where we had been led to expect hundreds," 
says Vernon Bailey of a collecting trip in the heart of the 
rattlesnake country ! He goes on to add that the largest one 
he has seen alive was only fifty inches long, and that on the 
average collecting trip only one or two a month are seen. Yet 
the present writer is nearly willing to swear that he once 
saw a rattler that was too big to crawl through a four-inch 
water pipe at a place where years later one was killed whose 
middle third was skinned and the stretched skin made a mat 
thirty inches by eighteen. To support this and to make 
suitable reading for "Scary William," the following quota- 
tions from J. D. Mitchell of Victoria are inserted: "I have 
had them to crawl away toward cover with the posterior 
part of their body, the anterior elevated directly over the 
posterior part and facing me; it is the most aggressive and 
protective action imaginable. This is the most dangerous 
attitude the snake can assume, for thus postured he can 
strike nearly his full length. As he thus moves with his 
neck flattened, saliva dropping from his mouth, tongue dart- 
ing back and forth, his rattle sounding and his sickening 
odor filling the air, his expression is hellish." "Place a 
rattlesnake where it cannot escape, whip it into a frenzy 
with a switch, and it will bite itself, sinking the fangs deep 
into the flesh. I once thought that they intended to com- 
mit suicide, but later experiment proved that their bite was 
harmless to themselves, and that in their blind fury they 
bite themselves by accident. Caracara eagles, hogs, and 
some dogs catch and kill rattlers without much ceremony." 



THE WILD LIFE 101 

On the whole, the snakes are beneficial, for down their 
throats go mice, rats, gophers, and insects by the hun- 
dreds. 

"During the mating season the males are very aggressive 
and will promptly rattle a challenge to an intruder. I 
have received such a challenge when fifty feet away. Once, 
on dismounting to fix my saddle, I heard a challenge rattle 
about twenty feet away. On looking that way I saw a 
large male about five feet long coming toward me in fight- 
ing attitude ; when about eight feet off I broke his back with 
a pistol bullet; this stopped him, but did not change his 
mind, for he made frantic efforts to get at me before he 
died." All the old timers can tell of seeing snakes that were 
snakes, none of your little ones such as are taken by the 
''government fellers" who are so prosaic as to apply tape 
measure to snakes and other animals, thereby ruining many 
fine stories. 

Large alligators are now scarce, but small ones are fairly 
common along the coastal rivers. In Beaumont a man has 
made several hundred dollars by raising young alligators 
on English sparrows. The sparrows are caught in traps 
and the small alligators are sold to travellers on passing 
trains. 

Turtles and fresh-water fish of the rivers are suffering from 
much fishing, but still enough remain to form a weak founda- 
tion for many otherwise unsupported fish stories. There 
is an immense variety of species and a large number of in- 
dividual fishes in the streams of the Coastal Plain. The 
large-mouthed black bass (often called trout) is the most 
important game fish, but the various species of catfish, 



102 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

buffalo, sunfish, and fresh-water drum should also be men- 
tioned. The irregularly flowing creeks and the rivers in the 
rest of the state have of course neither the variety nor the 
number of fish of the Gulf and coastal streams. There is a 
United States fish hatchery at San Marcos, and certain 
streams and reservoirs are being stocked, notably the Medina 
Reservoir and the lake at Austin formed by damming the 
Colorado. The marine fishes of the coast are one of the 
glories of Texas, whose tarpon fishing is the best in the 
world. Men come all the way from Europe to fish for 
the silver king who weighs 150 pounds and who some- 
times jumps entirely over the boat of the fisherman. 
For both food and sport Spanish mackerel, red snapper, 
sheepshead, pompano, and catfish are caught. In addition, 
clams, shrimp, and oysters are taken in commercial quan- 
tities. 

The annual "take" of fish is about 2,500,000 pounds, of 
oysters 100,000 barrels. During recent years the pro- 
duction has slowly decreased. *'The state has fixed the 
law so successful (oyster) planting cannot be done," says Mr. 
C. R. Gibson of Rockport. Unrestricted use of oyster 
reefs and a general hand-to-mouth policy of the oystermen 
have affected the oyster supply appreciably. The shovel- 
nosed shark, sawfish, stingaree, shovel-nosed sturgeon, a 
mullet, three varieties of gars, eleven of catfish, eleven of 
suckers, three of pike fish, fifty of minnows, eight of her- 
rings, two of anchovies, three of eels, twelve of sunfish, 
sixteen of darters, six of flounders, three of bass, make a 
list of not much over one-half of the marine and fresh-water 
fish of Texas. According to Mr. W. G. Sterett, former 




o .». 



C c o 




A !^,0()0 Pound Ray Fish Cai cii j' ( )i-i' (;al\ kstox Jetties By a Max Seventy- 
five Years Old 




Ph., In hy fl. II. \r,n 

A Day's Catch of Stlveh Krxfi 'J'ari'oxs 



THE WILD LIFE 103 

Fish and Oyster Commissioner, the Gulf fishes constitute 
one of the greatest natural resources of Texas. 

Ants, wasps, bees, scorpions, spiders, beetles, and butter- 
flies are numerous in variety and quantity. The centi- 
pede and the tarantula and the vinegarroon are really an 
asset, for they rarely or never harm any one, and they are 
the basis of many horribly interesting tales and an object 
of never-failing interest to the newcomer. At certain times 
in the fall swarms of crickets surround electric lights and 
pile up around buildings so as to disturb city sanitary de- 
partments. It is sometimes possible to scoop up beetles 
by the shovelful; flocks of grasshoppers occasionally harm 
the crops; plaster ants (really a kind of wood louse) some- 
times daub acres of grass with mud; flies and mosquitoes 
are sufiiciently common to cause many houses to be screened. 
The heel fly, the screw fly, and the horn fly, each after his 
fashion, afflicts the world. The horn fly sucks the blood of 
stock; the screw fly, found nearly all over the Americas but 
commercially important in the United States only in Texas, 
kindly puts into wounds of live stock eggs that shortly 
develop into voracious maggots which often enlarge the 
wounds until their poor hosts perish. The heel fly also is a 
fearful obstacle to the theory that all things are for the best, 
for in the spring of the year, when the cattle are thin from 
the winter scarcity, he attacks their heels with painful 
bites and causes the poor beasts to rush to the nearest hole 
of water to stand therein for protection. If the hole be 
boggy and the cow feeble, she sometimes dies a fearful 
death. Such, however, were episodes of the olden time 
when cattle were cheap and roamed at will for miles. Now, 



104 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

being so valuable, they are carefully protected by man, the 
tragedy is gone, and there is only amusement in seeing a 
sleek bovine suddenly twist her tail into a knot and rush 
abruptly to the nearest pond. The quarantine line, famous 
among cowmen and running from the Rio Grande north- 
easterly to the Red River, with the two-fifths of Texas to 
the west of it above quarantine, marks the area below which 
cattle are subject to the "Texas fever" (which is not pe- 
culiar to Texas) and must be inspected for the fever tick be- 
fore being allowed to go farther north or west. Five mil- 
lions of cattle below the line are subject to the attacks of 
these ticks, which do millions of dollars of damage a year. 
Prof. Mark Francis of the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College deserves great commendation in Texas for his efforts 
to eradicate this tick. This may be done by dipping the 
cattle in a disinfectant and by removing them from a range 
long enough to starve the ticks that infest it. It costs 
about 50 cents a head to dip cattle. The young tick is able 
to live five or six months without food. For many years 
"practical" cowmen poured oceans of ridicule upon the 
scientific veterinarians who were vainly telling them that 
the tick caused the fever. The Mexican boll weevil, which 
has invaded Texas in recent years, is a beetle which is ex- J 
tending its habitat eastward along the Coastal Plain. There 
seems to be a sort of general drift from Mexico into Texas; 
in recent years the boll weevil, the armadillo, the Mexican 
and the Inca dove have increased in numbers and spread 
over wider areas. 

We shall conclude this inadequate discourse on the ani- f 
mals of Texas by quoting from James R. Steele of the United 



THE WILD LIFE 105 

States Signal Service, who was stationed at Brownsville in 
early days. In fine poetic excess he has described the Rio 
Grande region as follows: 

"The devil put thorns on all of the trees, 
And mixed up the sand with millions of fleas; 
And scattered tarantulas along all the roads. 
He put thorns on the cactus and horns on the toads. 
He lengthened the horns of the Texas steers. 
And put an addition to the jack rabbit's ears; 
He put a little devil in the broncho steed, 
And poisoned the feet of the centipede. 
The rattlesnake bites you, the scorpion stings. 
The mosquito delights you with buzzing its wings. 
The sand burrs prevail and so do the ants. 
And those who sit down need half-soles on their pants. 
The red pepper grows on the banks of the brook, 
The Mexicans use it in all that they cook; 
Just dine with a Greaser and then you will shout, 
'I've }ie!l on the inside as well as the out.'" 



PART IV— THE WORK OF THE PEOPLE WITH 
THE PRODUCTS OF THE LAND 

"Imperial Man! Co-worker with the wind 
And rain and Hght and heat and cold and all 
The agencies of God to feed and clothe 
And render beautiful and glad the world." 

— Henry Jerome Stockard. 



CHAPTER I 

OCCUPATIONS 

"In the labor of engines and trades and the labor of fields, 
I find the developments and find the eternal meanings." 

— Walt Whitman. 

THE industrial development of Texas has been 
natural and even inevitable. Most of the country 
is peculiarly adapted to agriculture and stock 
raising, industries that lead men to scatter over wide areas 
rather than to collect into densely populated centres. More- 
over, the white people who came early into the country 
were largely of Southern and rural origin and were therefore 
relatively unacquainted with manufacturing. The nature 
of the country, the sparseness of the population, the char- 
acter of the people largely predetermined occupations and 
the general development of industry. It was inevitable 
that, after the Indian, then should come, in approximate 
order, the pioneer, the stockman, the farmer, the trader, 
and the carrier of goods. Manufacturers, professional men, 
and all that diversified host of workers that marks a thickly 
settled and highly civilized country were of necessity the 
last to come, and even at the present time have not arrived 
in sufficient numbers. 

In a new country where a living is easy to make and where 

the hot summers do not invite to hard labor it was equally 

lOd 



no THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

inevitable that the people should tend to be less efficient than 
those who dwell where Nature yields a living only after 
much coaxing. Those whom the ravens feed are not likely 
to be good breadwinners. 

The future development of Texas is as inevitable as that 
of the past has been, and may be predicted with certainty 
if one is not asked to specify dates too closely. The in- 
crease of population will lead to a beneficial competition 
that will create a greater industrial efficiency. Pressed by 
each other, if not by Nature, Texans will more and more 
utilize the immense agricultural resources of Texas. They 
will raise the various crops in suitable amounts, they will 
plant good seed, they will conserve the soil, they will store 
storm water for irrigation, they will drain the swamps, 
they will nurture finer breeds of domestic animals; in short, 
they will raise skilfully and wisely a more enormous amount 
of raw agricultural produce. They will also dig more min- 
erals from the earth, and, by manufacture broad-based upon 
all the products of the soil, they will make most of the ma- 
terial things that they need, sending their surplus away to get 
in profitable exchange those things that Texas cannot pro- 
duce economically, if at all. 

Texas, however, as yet has not by any means rounded 
into a symmetric and properly developed economic whole. 
She has fallen short of doing so in many ways, a failure which 
it is a part of the duty of the following pages to point out. 
Texas is so full of actual achievement and so full of promise 
that he is no friend to her who fails to point out in what 
way she has not attained the best. Knowledge of shortcom- 
ings is the beginning of their removal. 



OCCUPATIONS 111 

Most of the shortcomings of Texas are due to the isola- 
tion of rural life, which in turn is due to scanty population. 
This isolation is both physical and mental, bad roads being 
a cause of physical and poor schools a cause of mental isola- 
tion. The poor schools do the most damage, for mental 
isolation breeds a thousand ills. The community that 
does not provide good schools for its children is certain to 
decline compared with the community that does. As has 
been well said, "A people who think themselves too poor 
to pay for good schools are likely to remain too poor." 
Texas children cry out for the bread of learning and are 
given the stone of ignorance. The city schools are advanc- 
ing happily, but in the country there is a desperate need of 
better vocational training for farm workers and of better 
spiritual training for farm dwellers. 

Agriculture and stock raising are the overwhelmingly 
predominant occupations, absorbing the energies of 60 
per cent, of all the workers. Neither of these occupations 
is being generally carried on in accordance with the best 
modern practice, though some excellent farming is being 
done. The small farmer does not raise enough stock, 
the cowman does not raise enough feed. The "one-crop 
system" prevails to a large extent, and the diversification 
of crops is not making much headway against cotton. The 
farmers are not making as much progress in seed selection 
as the stockmen in improving the breed of their herds. But, 
as we have said, the very ease with which a living may be 
made is an impediment. Why dig and delve laboriously 
when poor seed planted carelessly will bring forth abun- 
dantly? Wliy raise feed when stock will often winter with- 



112 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

out it? Why work at all when mild winters and generous 
summers render work almost unnecessary? 

It is fair to say that at present manufacturing is carried 
on only so far as it is absolutely demanded by the farms, the 
live stock, and the forests. A blacksmith there must be 
nearby to sharpen the plow point, the sawmill must stand 
somewhere near the timber, the packery should not be too 
far from the cattle. In Texas manufacturing mostly exists 
only in obedience to such dominant exigencies ; as yet it has 
not made for itself many fields of activity. Indeed, on the 
whole, it has not done as much as might have been fairly ex- 
pected of it. For example, the cotton is ginned and com- 
pressed in Texas because that much must be done to it before 
it is shipped away, but scarcely 1 per cent, of it is woven into 
cloth, an amount insufficient to clothe the laborers who raise 
the cotton. Again, in her railroad shops, Texas scarcely so 
much as keeps in repair the trains that run upon her tracks, 
nor does she manufacture a tithe of the machinery that she 
uses upon her farms. 

"The Texas farmer rises in the morning at the alarm of a 
Connecticut clock; buttons his Chicago suspenders to De- 
troit overalls; washes his face in a Pennsylvania pan, using 
Cincinnati soap; sits down to a Grand Rapids table to 
eat Kansas City bacon and Indiana hominy fried in Kansas 
lard on a St. Louis stove; hitches a Missouri mule fed on 
Iowa corn to a Chattanooga plow, and cultivates a farm 
covered by an Ohio mortgage. When bedtime comes Mr. 
Texas Farmer reads a chapter from a Bible printed in Bos- 
ton and says a prayer written in Jerusalem; then he crawls 
under a blanket made in New Jersey and is kept awake all 



OCCUPATIONS lis 

night by a barking dog, the only Texas product on the whole 
damn farm. While he lies awake he keeps on wondering 
why he can't make money raising cotton." ^ 

Such a state of affairs will not last. Where the raw 
material is, there will the factories be gathered eventually, 
particularly if the people become more and more numerous. 
The pressure of population will cause vocational oppor- 
tunities in Texas to continue to broaden until she is no 
longer a state almost of one industry — agriculture — and that 
industry too much devoted to one crop — cotton. Diversifi- 
cation of industries is nearly as badly needed as is diversifica- 
tion of crops. 

Diversification of industries is coming at an increasing 
rate. In 1880, 69 per cent.; in 1900, 62 per cent.; in 1910, 
60 per cent, of the workers were engaged in farming, stock 
raising, and lumbering; in 1900, 78 per cent.; in 1910, 69 
per cent, lived in the country or small towns. This move- 
ment away from the country to the towns, so disastrous to 
the country in so many ways, will have at least this good 
effect: w^hen people move to town most of them have to 
work when they get there, and some, therefore, may be 
driven into manufacturing and into other occupations. A 
wider variety of occupations will eventually increase the 
industrial efficiency of the whole community. With manu- 
facturing going on about them, the Texas youth will not be 
long in learning how to carry it on successfully. Demon- 
stration manufacturing is as much needed as demonstra- 
tion farming. 

W^e may assume, since the United States is an exporter 
of food with only 36 per cent, of the people engaged in 



114 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

agriculture and stock raising, that under modern conditions 
perhaps a third of the people on the farms and ranches is 
enough to furnish the entire population with the needed 
farm produce. In Texas, therefore, as the years advance, 
we may expect the percentage of people engaged in agri- 
culture and stock raising to decrease slowly from the present 
60 per cent, toward 50 or 40 per cent. Texas will probably 
always be a great producer of raw materials, and the farmer 
therefore is likely to be in the majority for a long time to come. 
The following table compares the situation in Texas with 
that in the United States as a whole: 

OCCUPATION PERCENTAGES 





MALES 


FEMALES 


OCCUPATION 


TEXAS 


u. s. 


TEXAS 


u. s. 


Agriculture 


Per Cent. 

60 

14 

15 

3 

8 


Per Cent. 

36 
25 
20 
4 
15 


Per Cent. 

55 

5 

4 

6 
30 


Per Cent. 
18 


Manufacturing and mining 

Trade and transportation 

Professions 


24 

13 

8 


All other occupations 


37 








100 


100 


100 


100 



The table demands some explanation. About five- 
sixths of the males above ten years of age and only one- 
fourth of the females are reported as "gainfully" employed, 
^latrimony is not regarded as an occupation by the Census 
Bureau. The work that women do in caring for the home 
and in raising children is not credited to them in the table. 
This is unfair to the women ; as workers they cannot compare 
favorably with men when their chief occupations are left out 
of account. Incomplete and incorrect as such statistics for 
women are, they nevertheless reveal at each successive census 



OCCUPATIONS 115 

the rapid increase in the number of women gainfully employed. 
One woman in seven was reported as working in Texas in 1900 ; 
one in four in 1910. The rate of increase thus indicated was 
much in excess of that for the whole United States. 

It is popularly supposed that the negro is seeking the 
towns and avoiding the farms, but such is not conspicuously 
the case. On the average, out of every thousand people, 
7G1 are natives, 62 are foreign born, and 177 are negroes, 
while out of every thousand farmers, 764 are natives, 69 are 
foreign, and 167 are negroes. Hence there are only 167 
negro farmers where there ought to be 177 were the negroes 
farming in proportion to the whites. This difference, small 
as it is, spread over the country, has produced a slight con- 
centration of the negroes in the towns, especially in the 
larger ones. 

In numbers, the Texas labor situation is approximately as 
follows : 

MALES FEMALES 

Total population above ten years 1,600,000 1,500,000 

Gainfully employed 1,330,000 370,000 

Total population between ten and fifteen years . . 320,000 300,000 

Gainfully employed 130,000 66,000 

Employed in agriculture and stock raising .... 810,000 210,000 

Manufacturing and mechanical industries 180,000 20,000 

Mining 9,000 

Transportation 86,000 4,000 

Trade 115,000 11,000 

Personal and domestic service 49,000 90,000 

Clerical service 30,000 9,000 

Public service 14,000 1,000 

Teachers 7,000 18,000 

Professions 30,000 7,000 

1,330,000 370,000 



116 



THE BOOK OF TEXAS 



The numbers following some of the commoner occupationi 
are mteresting. 



Retail dealers 
Carpenters 
Servants .... 
Bookkeepers, cashiers 
Doctors .... 
Real estate agents 
Clergymen 
Lawyers and judges . 



Servants .... 
Dressmakers, etc. 
Boarding and lodging 
Teachers of music 
Telephone operators 
Milliners .... 



MEN 

45,000 Salesmen and clerks in 

26,000 stores 32,000 

13,000 Draymen, teamsters, etc. 17,000 

10,000 Clerical occupations . 12,000 

7,000 Blacksmiths .... 8,000 

7,000 Teachers 7,000 

6,000 Commercial travellers . 6,000 

5,000 Painters and glaziers . 6,000 



WOMEN 



35,000 
11,000 
6,000 
3,000 
3,000 
3,000 



Washerwomen . . . 35,000 
Saleswomen in stores . 7,000 
Stenographers, etc. . . 5,000 
Housekeepers, steward- 
esses, etc 3,000 



The numbers of those at work at different ages are as 
follows: 



One-third of the boys from 1 to 1 3 . 
One-half of the boys from 14 to 15. 
Four-fifths of the boys from 16 to 20. 
Ninety-seven per cent, of the men from 21 to 44. 
Ninety per cent, of the men over 45. 

One-seventh of the native white females of native parents. 
One-fourth of the native white females of foreign or mixed paren- 
tage. 
One-half or more of the negro females. 

Laziness is common enough in Texas; loafing on the job 
is not unknown ; the boy often betakes himself unwillingly to 
school or cotton patch; arduous labor during the summer 
heat requires some effort. It is perhaps true that Texans 



I 



OCCUPATIONS 117 

do not work as hard as the inhabitants of colder and more 
inhospitable climes. Nevertheless, to work, at least mildly, 
is the rule; to work very hard is common, and an able- 
bodied man who does not have some occupation is com- 
mented upon unfavorably. A man can easily get up a 
camping party to go fishing for two or three weeks, but he 
cannot find many people who will loaf all the year round 
with him. An aristocracy that makes a business of doing 
nothing has not yet been developed. There is too much 
child labor out of school and too little in school. The 
women of the well-to-do families, as in other states, are 
rarely parasitic butterflies ; they are often leaders in all good 
movements toward greater and more general social welfare. 




CHAPTER II 

AGRICULTURE ' 

**It don't concern me much to know 
What's going on in Mexico, 
Or how the folks across the sea 
Are gettin' on with butchery. 
I'd rather read about the way 
Old Farmer Johnson saves his hay 
Or how he makes his chickens pay — 
I'm farmin'." 

— Whitney Montgomery. 

^MERICANS have often and loudly boasted that 
their country could feed and clothe the world. 
Texans have been equally insistent concerning the 
ability of their state to feed and clothe the United States. 
Unfortunately the difference between power and performance 
has been of such a character recently as to introduce louder 
and louder wailings into what was once an unmixed chorus 
of boasts and jubilations. Undoubtedly the agricultural 
possibilities of the United States in general and of Texas in 
particular are enormous, and persons desiring to jubilate 
can base their rejoicings on such enormous possibilities and 
on so tremendous an actual crop and live-stock production 
that the result per farmer far exceeds that of the husband- 
man of any foreign country. Contrariwise, persons desiring 
to ululate can base their wailings on the flow of population 
from country to town and on the failure of agriculture to 
keep pace with the increase in population. In agriculture, 

118 



AGRICULTURE 119 

as in most other things, there is both the cloud and the silver 
lining. 

Let us look at the cloud a while. Despite agricultural 
colleges and departments of agriculture, despite fertilizers 
and seed selection, despite farm papers and better machinery, 
despite many improvements that have undoubtedly arisen 
in farming during the past forty years, the exliaustion of 
the soil is proceeding and the yield per acre of the stand- 
ard crops has increased but little, if at all, during the 
past forty years. Witness Texas, where, during the 1870- 
1879 decade, the average production per acre of corn 
was 21.7 bushels, of wheat 13.8 bushels, of cotton 0.42 
of a bale, as compared with 20.0 bushels of corn, 11.8 
bushels of wheat, and 0.34 of a bale during the 1905-1914 
decade. 

Of course, such production comparisons are not entirely 
fair. The seasons may not have been equally favorable 
during the two decades and the acreages planted were ob- 
viously widely different, the 1905-1914 plantings including 
much poor land in the old counties not planted at all forty 
years ago and much land in the newer counties lying in the 
droughty regions. Any decreased yields, due to the exten- 
sion of farms into new areas, is to the credit rather than to 
the discredit of recent agriculture, but the undoubtedly ex- 
tensive impoverishment of the soil on the farms long culti- 
vated is wholly discreditable. One has, alas! only to drive 
about Texas and observe the marked difference in condition 
between the same crop on the two sides of the road, one on an 
old farm and the other on land which has been recently 
plowed for the first time, to realize the loss of productive 



120 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

power due to bad farming. This situation is not confined to 
Texas. 

Between 1880 and 1910 the population of the United 
States increased 83 per cent., but the acreage in cereals, 
two-thirds of all the crop acreage, increased only 60 per 
cent. In Iowa, almost a model agricultural state, where it 
is said that "farmers put money into the banks in the place 
of taking it out," the total population is almost a fixed 
number and the rural population is decreasing at the rate 
of 10,000 a year. "The farmers are going on a strike!" 
cries the alarmist. No wonder that the price of all agri- 
cultural products has risen more rapidly than can be ac- 
counted for merely by considering the depreciation of gold. 
Since 1880 the annual value of the farm products has in- 
creased fourfold while the amount of the products has not 
quite doubled. 

Live-stock production has failed to keep pace even with 
crop production. Since 1900 the population of the United 
States has increased 30 per cent, while the number of live 
stock has decreased 10 per cent.; the population of Texas 
has increased 43 per cent, and the live stock has decreased 
15 per cent. Mules and goats only have increased faster 
than the population. Pigs, sheep, and horses have re- 
mained nearly constant in number, while, during the same 
time, cattle have fallen off 15 per cent, in the United States, 
and 35 per cent, in Texas. Only those who are fond of 
goat meat or of mules or who have stock to sell can derive 
much satisfaction from such figures. 

During the last quarter century the number of Texas 
horses has remained nearly unchanged, the number of 



AGRICULTURE 121 

cattle has decreased nearly one-half, the number of sheep 
has decreased more than one-half. Texas, therefore, finds 
herself with twice as many people and only half as many 
cattle and sheep as in 1890. She has gained more than 
2,000,000 people and lost about 5,000,000 cattle and 
2,000,000 sheep! The increasing butcher bill needs no 
further explanation, and, unless some change takes place 
in present tendencies, we must perforce become either vege- 
tarians or cannibals. 

The cloud is black and needs a large silver lining to ren- 
der it tolerable. Fortunately this lining, made up partly of 
actualities and partly of potentialities, is not hard to find. 
The present cloud in the agricultural sky is due, not to the 
unavoidable refusal of Nature to provide for the wants of 
man, but to the comparative neglect by man to avail him- 
self of the bounties of Nature. If we dig wisely we shall 
reap abundantly. Our present trouble is temporary, a 
trouble due largely to our failure to dig with sufficient dili- 
gence and wisdom. 

Texas can be accused more justly of lack of wisdom than 
of lack of diligence. She has 200,000 more farmers than 
Georgia, 300,000 more than Illinois, twice as many as any 
of the remaining states. She expends 60 per cent, of her 
working energy in farming and stock raising on thirty 
millions of acres of improved land and on a hundred millions 
of acres of pasture land. Were all the tillable land under 
the plow, the twenty-five millions of acres now in crops 
would be trebled and perhaps quadrupled. Were more 
intensive methods of farming practised, the yields per acre 
would be greatly increased. Already Texas is producing 



122 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

annually more than five hundred millions of dollars of crops 
and one hundred millions of dollars of live stock; a total 
production of two billions will be a reality of the not very 
distant future. 

How mortifying to descend from such immense poten- 
tialities, from such vast actualities, to admit that a lack of 
proper agricultural diversification is forcing Texas to im- 
port, not the tea of Asia and the coffee of Brazil which she 
cannot wisely attempt to raise, but much corn and flour 
and bacon that she could very easily produce within her 
own borders. The bitterness involved in such importa- 
tions is not a bit reduced by the presence among them of 
ten millions of gallons of molasses which also ought to be 
raised at home. 

In accord with a general tendency, Texas is paying more 
and more attention to the minor crops. The path of great- 
est progress lies in the direction of more minor crops and 
more live stock on the farm. Everybody has been ding- 
donging this fact into the ears of the farmer for many years, 
but he is taking his own time about putting crop diversi- 
fication into practice. His model of diversification, pa- 
tience, and industry should be Mr. John Stoepler of Mc- 
Culloch, who says: "I plant everything; if it doesn't come 
up I plant all of it again next year." 

Naturally, since 1850 Texas has had a more rapid agri- 
cultural development than the United States as a whole. 
In 1850 one acre in every 250 acres was improved farm 
land ; in successive decades this one in 250 increased through 
one in 60, one in 50, one in 13, one in 9, one in 8, to one 
in 6 at the present time. 



AGRICULTURE 123 

The almost explosive increases that took place in values 
throughout the whole country during the last census dec- 
ade resulted in doubling the value of Texas farm buildings 
and machinery and in trebling the value of her farm and 
pasture lands; in percentages these increases were 105 and 
175, the corresponding percentages for the whole United 
States being 75 and 120. In Texas the increase in the value 
of land has been more rapid than the decrease in the value 
of the dollar. Note well the following table, where the 
numbers set down for 1915 are mere guesses which are 
designedly underestimates : 



VALUES IN MILLIONS OF FARMS 
AND RANCHES 

Land 

Buildings 

Implements and machinery 
Domestic animals 

Totals 



1915 



1910 



1900 



$2,000 

240 

60 

400 



$1,630 

210 

55 

320 



$590 

100 

30 

240 



$2,700 



$2,215 



$960 



It is plain that land holding has recently been a profit- 
able occupation. The holding of land purely for specula- 
tive purposes is always a betting against time, in which 
time always wins in the long run. Land values cannot 
increase fast enough indefinitely to pay compound interest 
even at a somewhat low rate. The twentieth century so 
far in this country has been a marked exception to this 
general rule. Assuming that the dollar of 1900 bought 
twice as much as the dollar of 1915, the farm lands that 
were valued at 590 millions in 1900 should be valued at 
1,200 millions in 1915, in order for the increase in land value 



124 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

to counterbalance the decrease in dollar value. Since the 
farm lands are now valued at 2,000 millions, the Texas 
owners of rural lands have secured a "rake off" of 800 mil- 
lions of 1915 dollars in fifteen years. This profit, measured 
in dollars without any reference to their decreasing value, 
is 1,400 millions, or 100 millions of dollars a year. City 
and town values having undergone a similar expansion, no 
wonder that many landowning Texans have got rich very 
rapidly in fact and still more rapidly in appearance. 

Unfortunately the intrinsic value of the land has been in- 
creased but little. Some of it has been cleared of brush and 
plowed, some has been drained and some irrigated, some has 
been damaged by erosion and bad management, and some 
has been invaded by injurious vegetation. As a basis of 
human welfare it is perhaps worth more than it was fifteen 
years ago, though it isn't worth three times as much or even 
half again as much. In money language, however, which is 
said to be the most eloquent, land has increased on the 
average from $5 per acre to $15. The finest "black waxy" 
lands of north Texas have increased from $30 or $40 per 
acre to $100 or $125, with numerous sales at even higher 
figures. Many think that the "black" lands are priced too 
high, the east Texas lands too low, relatively to the lands 
in other parts of the United States. In the black land the 
crop per acre is worth less than half the price of the land; in 
east Texas it is worth as much as the land. 

Owing to the effect of the European war on the price 
of cotton, land prices, both rural and urban, have declined 
recently. It is obvious that this decline is but temporary. 
Sales at reduced prices are not numerous, taking place 



AGRICULTURE 125 

mainly when the owner is in considerable need of ready 
money. Already the prices of land are beginning to "re- 
cover." 

Even in the most densely settled portions of the rural 
parts of the Black Prairie, even in Dallas and the surround- 
ing counties, not more than 75 per cent, of the land, which 
is almost wholly arable, is in improved farms. In the state 
at large, repeating and summarizing, one-sixth of the area 
is improved land; one-seventh is planted annually in crops; 
five-sixths is mainly in pasture and forest. The average 
amount of improved land on each of the 450,000 farms and 
ranches is a little more than sixty acres. The average size 
of the 11,000 largest ranches, each one having more than 
1,000 acres, is over 6,000 acres. The average size of the 
11,000 smallest farms is less than 10 acres. In east Texas 
the size of the average farm is decreasing, on the Black 
Prairie it is increasing. 

Comparisons between the states are particularly odious 
because of their frequent underlying unfairness. On ac- 
count of her vast size, it is especially unfair to compare Texas 
with her sister states — it is not only unfair, it is mortifying 
when Texas comes out behind some state which is so small 
that the engine of a full-sized freight train passes out of the 
state on one side before the caboose gets into the state on the 
other side. However, we cannot refrain from giving a list 
wherein Texas leads her sister states: 

First in area; California, the nearest competitor, needing 
Neyada with her 110,000 square miles to make an equal area. 

First in total value of all crops; Illinois and Iowa close 
•econds. 



126 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

First in cotton; Georgia, the nearest competitor, so far 
behind that any remaining cotton state may be added to 
Georgia without displacing Texas. 

First in cattle; Iowa, the nearest competitor with two- 
thirds as many worth nearly as much. 

First in mules; Missouri, the nearest competitor, with 
less than half as many. 

First in goats; New Mexico, the nearest competitor, with 
less than half as many. 

First in pecans, ahead of all the rest of the United States 
combined. 

Texas is not too proud to list some lesser honors. She is 
second in total value of farm animals, with Iowa considerably 
ahead and Illinois not far behind; second in bees, Cali- 
fornia has rapidly pushed Texas out of first place and now 
produces three times as much honey; second in rice, Louis- 
iana somewhat ahead; third in value of farms, Illinois and 
Iowa far ahead; third in number of horses, but ninth in 
value of them; fourth in number of acres of improved 
land; fourth in sweet potatoes; fourth in corn occasion- 
ally; seventh only in number of hogs; eighth only in num- 
ber of sheep. 

Ellis and McLennan counties in Texas contest with each 
other for the honor of being the banner agricultural county 
of Texas. It is claimed that in 1914 each of these counties 
raised a crop whose value was greater than that of Los 
Angeles County in California, the banner county of the 
United States. 

On the whole, Texas has more occasion to be ashamed than 
proud of these relative positions, which, after all, are not 



AGRICULTURE 127 

very important. The big thing consists in Texas not being 
as far to the front as she ought to be. An elephant ought 
to do more than a horse, and "noblesse oblige" is a motto 
worthy of the attention of Texas, where, according to a 
recent writer, there are "more cows and less milk, more 
milk and less butter, more rivers and less water, more farms 
and fewer barns, more hens and fewer eggs, more boosters and 
fewer workers" than anywhere else in the world. Such half- 
earnest gibes are, of course, not wholly true but are much used 
by all those who are trying to rouse Texas to greater efforts. 



KING COTTON 

King Cotton threw the paper down 

And laughed until he shook, 

" It's just the same old tale," he said, 

I know it like a book : 

The Southern farmers swear to cut 

The cotton crop in two. 

But when tlie Spring comes on again 

I know just what they'll do. 

All through the Fall and Winter months 

They try to get my goat, 

They try to resolute me down 

Or kill me by a vote. 

If times are panicky or dull 

I have to bear the blame. 

But when Spring comes on again 

They plant me just the same. 

They talk of pumpkins and of peas, 

.Vnd all that kind of stuff; 

It never worries me a bit 

I know it's just a bluff. 

They talk of sowing down the farm 

In forty kinds of grain. 

But when another Spring comes round 

They make me King again. 

They plant me here, they plant m« there. 

In every nook and spot. 

And when they've used up all the ground 

They plant me in a pot; 

And when the Fall comes on again 

And Famine pinches sore 

They saddle all the blame on me 

And resolute some more. 

— Whitney Montgomery. 

128 




CHAPTER in 

KING COTTON 

EMOCRACY and King Cotton do not get on very 
well together in the solid South. "Unless a people 
are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect 
the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity of self- 
government," says the Texas Declaration of Independence. 
Realizing the truth of this statement. King Cotton tries to 
attack Democracy by keeping the children in the cotton 
patch when they ought to be in school. The reins of power 
will slip from his nerveless hands when a cotton-picking 
machine is invented or when school terms are properly 
adjusted to the cotton season. At present, however, from 
the Rio Grande to the Red River, from the Sabine far out 
upon the western plains. King Cotton calls loudly upon 
child labor to serve him. 

He is, moreover, a monopolistic old Moloch. The rais- 
ing of cotton in Texas is a very preponderant industry; at 
least a third of the 800-million-dollar income of Texas is 
derived from cotton. The farmers put nearly all of their 
eggs into his basket and when any accident befalls him most 
of the eggs get broken at one time. The raising of one 
crop to such an extent prevents the farmer from distributing 
his labor evenly through the year and leads, therefore, to 
much wastefulness of time. 

Year by year, in Texas, the value of the cotton crop is 

129 



130 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

about equal to the combined value of all the other crops. 
The year 1915 was an exception. Because of the great 
war, cotton had fallen off in price and the acreage had been 
reduced, while the other crops had mostly gone up in price 
and their acreage had been greatly increased. Moreover, 
a short crop was raised. Perhaps the war, by forcing di- 
versification, may eventually do the South more good than 
harm. Nevertheless, the drop of $20 in the value of a bale 
of cotton as soon as the war broke out when, applied to a 
crop of more than 4,000,000 bales, made a loss of 90 mil- 
lions of dollars almost before a gun was fired. In average 
years, however, the cotton acreage will exceed the remain- 
ing total crop acreage and the value of the cotton crop will 
exceed the total value of all the other crops. There has 
been much talk of diversification, but the present war is 
the only influence that seems to have had any real effect 
in reducing the acreage, and this influence may prove to be 
only temporary. As soon as the war is over the cotton 
acreage may go up again by leaps and bounds. 

Twenty years ago the boll weevil advanced from Mexico 
into Texas, spreading ruin among the cotton bolls and 
terror among the people. The planting of cotton lagged 
for a few years, but the fear of the boll weevil having di- 
minished, the cotton acreage began to climb again. It was 
slightly if at all retarded by the invading weevil. 

The truth of the matter is that Texas is peculiarly fitted 
to the raising of cotton. In her black prairie farms she has 
the largest and finest body of cotton land in the world, 
and over at least two-thirds of the state cotton is an easy 
and profitable crop. The dry, hot summers, so destructive 




Courtesy of Farm and Ranch 

Irrigated Cotton in the Lower Rio Grande \'alley. The Cotton Is Green 
AND the Bolls Have Not Yet Formed 




Co:(rlc:;y uj iJu DdiLi^ Al^j 

A Typical Example of the Country Gin 
The cotton direct from the fields is I<^ft in covered wagons to await its turn 
at the gin; tlie ginned cotton is left in hales on the ground until hauled home 
or to market. A few men and liorses rt-sliug from hauling cotton are to be seen. 
The country gin is decreasing in number. 



KING COTTON 131 

to many crops, fit cotton almost exactly. Cotton and 
the mocking-bird flourish best in the sunshine. More- 
over, the cultivation of cotton is not difficult, and cotton 
picking, the most time-consuming operation connected with 
raising it, takes place in the fall, that delightful season of 
the year when the cooling nights and fresh mornings give 
early notice that a mild norther will before very long still 
further herald the breaking of the summer heat. Then 
it is that the darky cook, after "brilin' " over the summer 
stove, gives notice to the dismayed mistress that she's 
"gwine to de cotton patch wid de chilluns" to make more 
money picking cotton than is possible cooking meals; then 
it is that a not-always-vigilant constabulary bestirs itself 
and chases the lazy negroes from their loafing places in the 
towns out into the cotton fields, where the snowy open bolls 
are fairly itching to be "picked"; then it is that the country 
school which has opened too soon in the fall finds itself 
largely bereft of its possible pupils. Contrasted with the 
fierce labors involved in gathering corn, with its skin- 
maddening fuzz, in harvesting wheat to the tune of a self- 
binder and a thrasher that never tire, in cutting sorghum so 
high that the breeze cannot get at one, the picking of cotton 
is a mild and pleasant amusement which permits the pickers 
to work in friendly groups on adjoining rows and to conver,se 
amiably as they pluck the bolls with nimble fingers. Of all 
forms of child labor the picking of cotton seems to be the least 
objectionable. Nevertheless it is a man's job to pick cot- 
ton diligently all day, dragging a heavy sack along the rows. 
Cotton is not picked exclusively or even mainly by 
negroes. Everybody picks, including father. A large 



132 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

family is an advantage, "How many children have you 
got?" being a question often asked of a prospective tenant 
by a landlord. Some persons maintain that dragging, up 
and down the rows, the long eight-ounce duck sacks in 
which the cotton is put as fast as picked is sometimes in- 
jurious to the health of young girls. Stooping to the 
plants and walking on the knees have also some disadvan- 
tages. The amount of time required to pick cotton has 
sometimes been exaggerated. It is not true that there is 
not enough labor in the South to pick more cotton. As- 
sume a picking season of only fifty working days and a 
daily pick of only 100 pounds of seed cotton. Each per- 
son on this moderate basis could pick over three bales a year, 
working six weeks to do it. The rural population of Texas 
could easily pick a six-million bale crop if they had to. 

It is in obedience then to natural laws that cotton so 
prevails in Texas. The average value per acre of the cotton 
of Texas is far greater than that of the corn or oats or wheat 
of any of the great cereal states. The cost of raising it is 
no greater and, therefore, the profit is larger. The con- 
sumption per capita of cotton is increasing throughout the 
world as new uses are found for it. The lint may be kept 
for a long time without marked deterioration. Despite 
the tariff help that wool has had, cotton has gained rapidly 
on wool as a material for textile fabrics. The world is 
becoming more and more dependent on cotton, and the 
future of the staple in Texas is almost as golden as the rising 
sun. Perhaps diversificationists should not urge the farmers 
to raise less cotton but rather to raise more of other crops 'by 
utilizing the idle seasons when they are not busy with cotton. 



KING COTTON 133 

Even this they cannot do if it be true, as runs the com- 
mon saying, that "it takes thirteen months a year to raise 
cotton." As a matter of fact, it takes more time to raise and 
harvest cotton than is the case with the other standard crops. 
It is possible, though not by any means certain, that the 
other crops are going to gain on cotton in the next twelve 
or fifteen years. As a matter of curious fact, the acreage 
in cotton has grown most rapidly during recent years, 
when the talk of diversification has been most widespread 
and continuous. This has been due, not to the unwisdom 
of the talk, but to the rapid rise in the price of cotton. Be- 
ginning with 1880, when the acreage in cotton (2,000,000) 
was appreciably less than half the total crop acreage, the 
relative importance of cotton increased pretty steadily, 
until in 1914 it was somewhat ahead of all the other crops 
combined. Between 1890 and 1910 the acreage in cotton 
increased almost exactly 300,000 a year, between 1910 and 
1914 the increase was a little more than 750,000 acres a 
year. Between 1900 and 1910 all the other crops increased 
less than 50,000 acres a year. This vast increase in acre- 
age of cotton during the last decade has exceeded the total 
increase in all the other states. Texas has been more and 
more "cinching" first place in cotton. The 1915 area 
planted is reported to be from two to three million acres 
less than in 1914. If so, the total area of the Texas cotton 
fields is about twice as large as all of Massachusetts. No 
wonder that Texas produces nearly a third of the total 
cotton crop of the United States, which in turn produces a 
generous half of the cotton crop of the world. Sixteen 
thousand square miles of cotton in an "off" year; twenty 



154 



THE BOOK OF TEXAS 



thousand square miles in a good year; an increase of from 
five hundred to one thousand square miles of cotton a year; 
a possible cotton acreage of fifty or sixty thousand square 
miles, with plenty of land left for other crops! It is no idle 
boast when Texas orators exclaim in fine, forensic frenzy, 
"She can supply the world!" 

ANNUAL COTTON CROPS AND ACREAGES (TRIENNIAL AVERAGES) IN 
MILLIONS OF BALES, MILLIONS OF ACRES, AND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS 



YEARS 


world's 


u. s. 


TEXAS 


TEXAS 


TEXAS 


CROP 


CROP 


CROP 


ACREAGE 


VALUE 


1903-05 . . 


18.9 


11.2 


2.7 


7.8 


$155 


1906-08 . . 


21.4 


12.5 


3.4 


8.9 


187 


1909-11 . . 


22.9 


12.4 


3.3 


10.2 


227 


1912-14 . . 


26.0 


14. C 


4.5 


12.4 


265 



Turning to almost any compendium of useful informa- 
tion one finds that "cotton" is the Arabic word qutn, qutun, 
or kutun, but slightly changed. Great therefore is our 
indebtedness to the Arabians: we owe them for our zero, 
for algebra, for race horses, and for the thousand and one 
delectable "Arabian Nights." Moreover, so far as known, 
we have not paid them back for anj^thing. Qutn app>ears, 
however, to have been flax, not cotton, and the earliest 
reference to what was undoubtedly cotton is in a Sanskrit 
Sutra of date about 800 b. c, where it is contrasted with 
silk and hemp and described as the material that formed 
the sacred thread of the Brahman. India seems to have 
been the earliest home of cultivated cotton, and it is a 
curious fact that the plant was known there for so many 
centuries and yet was practically unknown to the European 
world as late as two hundred years ago, 



KING COTTON 135 

In 1696 a pamphlet in defense of wool and bewailing the 
introduction of cotton was published in England under 
the title, "The Naked Truth, or, An Essay Upon Trade." 
The author perhaps thought it better for truth to go naked 
than to dress in cotton. In 1741 the first Georgia cotton 
went to England, and in 1784 part of a shipment of fourteen 
sacks from America was seized at Liverpool on the ground 
that so much cotton could not have been produced in the 
United States. When released it lay for months unsold 
because the spinners doubted the profit in working it up. 
After the War of 1812 cotton production in the United States 
rapidly increased, but the total crop in the banner year before 
the Civil War was somewhat less than the 1912 Texas crop. 

The botanists tell us that cotton is a member of the mallow 
family, which includes okra and the hibiscus. Cotton is 
a native of the tropical parts of both the new and the old 
worlds, but seems not to have grown wild in the United 
States. In the tropics the plant is not an annual. Many 
different varieties of the wild plant are known, and like all liv- 
ing things which have been cultivated or domesticated for long 
centuries, and which have numerous wild varieties, the exact 
origins of the various kinds of cultivated cottons are unknown. 

Great commercial good would come from a more careful 
study of the wild cottons in various parts of the world, 
from more extensive hybridization experiments, and from 
a more careful and general selection of seed. Something 
is being done to improve cotton in Texas, but not enough. 
Mr. A. D. Mebane, of Lockhart, has bred a new variety 
from a "sport" and has done careful seed selection. His 
"Triumph" cotton is being extensively planted in Arizona 



136 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

and southeast California as well as in Texas. "Rowden" 
is another well-known Texas variety named after its origi- 
nator. The "Lone Star," a third popular Texas cotton, k 
due to Mr. A. M. Ferguson of Sherman. 

Prof. R. L. Bennett has shown that seed selection should 
be directed toward securing short jointed plants which 
fruit at every joint, which mature early, and which have 
large bolls. Early cotton, he maintains, does not nec- 
essarily have small bolls and short lint. Mr. W. S. Ownsby, 
of the Cleburne High School, is spreading good seed selec- 
tion practices among the Johnson County farmers. In 
general, however, it may fairly be said that Texans have 
done very little to increase the good qualities of their chief 
crop. Mr. Robert Munger of Dallas had added several 
important improvements to the cotton gin, of which he is a 
manufacturer in large numbers at Dallas and Birmingham, 
Ala. 

Sea Island cotton has been greatly improved; why not 
Texas Upland? Sea Island has had its lint increased in 
length by three-fourths of an inch to two and one-half 
inches, its lint made of more uniform length, its time of 
maturing shortened, its productiveness increased. Cotton 
is capable of improvement in more ways than the creek 
that needed only to be widened and deepened and length- 
ened to rival the Mississippi. In the cotton "want" column 
we find greater yield, longer lint, stronger lint, greater re- 
sistance to disease, less shedding of bolls, less loss from open 
bolls, and in north Texas particularly, quickness in matur- 
ing. Standard methods of seed selection will certainly 
meet most of these wants. 



KING COTTON 137 

Commercially, the most important difference between 
varieties is in the length of fibre produced, which ranges 
from two inches in Barbados Sea Island cotton through one 
and pne-half inches in long staple cotton, to less than one 
inch in "half and half" and certain Asiatic cottons. " Good 
Middling Texas" has a fibre about an inch long. The 
long-fibre cottons are worth three and even four times as 
much per pound as the others. "Half and half" cotton, so 
called because half by weight is seed and half lint, has a 
short fibre, seven-eighths of an inch at most. It lacks uni- 
formity, has a poor storm resistance, and is generally un- 
desirable. It has come in only recently and should soon go 
out. The strength and amount of twist in the fibre also aftect 
the commercial value. The true cottons are distinguished 
from the silk cottons by this twist in the fibre which so 
greatly facilitates the spinning of the fibre into thread. The 
varieties of the true cottons are further distinguished by 
the relation of the fibre to the seed from which it grows. 
Ordinary American cotton bears both long and short hairs, 
while Sea Island cotton has long hairs only. In the latter 
the hairs are easily detached, leaving a bare seed; in or- 
dinary American, Indian, and African cottons the long 
hairs are fairly easily removed in the ordinary "saw gin," 
leaving the seed completely covered with a short fuzz that 
is only removed with difficulty in preparing the seeds for 
the manufacture of cottonseed oil and meal. This fuzz (later 
removed by a separate process) gives rise annually to many 
thousands of bales of "linters." 

There is a great dearth of useful scientific knowledge about 
cotton cultivation. Rest restores fields, but in rare cases some 



138 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

fields have been planted for forty years continuously with- 
out fertilizers and without diminution of crop. The fibre 
takes nothing practically from the ground, any exhaustion 
of the soil being due to what the seeds take away and to 
the burning up of the humus of the soil which results from 
shallow cultivation. 

A word to the wise concerning the cultivation of cotton, 
which will grow on many kinds of soil, preferably those 
whose moisture content is not very variable and not too 
great. Too much moisture and fertility in the lowlands 
cause the plant to "go to stalk," to grow tall and beautiful, 
only to produce but little fruit, while the more stunted 
plants of the sandy uplands are covered with bolls. A 
deep, well-drained loamy soil is best. Given plenty of hot 
sunshine, and not too much moisture or wind, cotton will 
flourish like the proverbial bay tree. It is planted thickly 
in rows, "chopped" to a "stand" with a hoe, cultivated 
both clean and shallow. Six plowings and three hoeings 
are required to keep the "drill" clean and raise a crop. 
There results a great leaching of the soil and loss of 
humus. Whether subsoil plowing is advantageous is a 
moot question, and how to fertilize for cotton is as yet 
almost unknown. How properly to plant cotton in "rota- 
tion" with other crops and how to keep it from shed- 
ding so many of its "forms" (buds) and bolls is as yet 
a mystery. 

Cotton planting begins early in March in south Texas, 
where the first blooms appear about May 15th, and the first 
bale about July 10th. In north Texas the crop is from 
three to five weeks later. The first bale each vear in a 



KING COTTON 139 

county is usually sold at a premium, the producer getting 
a new hat or suit from the town merchants and a certain 
amount of local fame. The "first bale" for Texas and the 
United States is of course a greater glory to its producer and 
to its locality. Lyford, between Corpus Christi and Browns- 
ville, in the Magic Valley, has produced the first bale in the 
United States for three successive years. In 1914 its first 
bale was sent to Houston on July 3d. 

In Egypt the scarab, or dung beetle, was greatly esteemed 
as the symbol of immortality, and was sacred to the sun 
god; in Texas the boll weevil, or cotton beetle, is greatly 
hated and universally consigned to the devil. According 
to the darky preacher, "divers diseases" was the worst 
sort of disease mentioned in the Scriptures; similarly, the 
boll weevil to the cotton grower is the worst among the 
23,000 species of weevils known to science. All the weevils 
eat plants, but the boll weevil is the only one that injures 
cotton to an appreciable extent, its ravages having been 
estimated as high as $15,000,000 to $20,000,000 a year in 
Texas alone. This destructive insect, which caused great 
damage around Monclova in Mexico in 1862, appeared in 
Texas about 1893, in Louisiana in 1905, in Mississippi in 
1907, and has recently been reported in Georgia; on the 
north it has passed into Oklahoma and on the west it has 
gone nearly as far as cotton is planted. 

The adult weevils first puncture and then insert their 
eggs in the cotton flower-buds, which drop from the plant 
as the weevil eggs develop into grubs. Later they lay their 
eggs in the young cotton bolls which discolor, crack, and 
are ruined as the grubs develop. No remedy commerci- 



140 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

ally applicable is known. The boll weevil is very prolific 
and hard to kill. A negro song seizes upon these qualities: 



"Fus time I saw the boll weevil, he was settin' on the square, 
The nex' time I saw him, he had all his family there. 
The farmer takes the boll weevil and puts him on the ice. 
The boll weevil says to the farmer, 'This certainly is nice.' 
The farmer takes the boll weevil and puts him in hot sand. 
The boll weevil says to the farmer, ' This certainly is grand, 
For I'm looking for a home, jes' a looking for a home.' " 



The farmers and scientists, therefore, in fighting the boll 
weevil are plunged into difficulties. A few birds eat him; 
the Guatemala ant, the "kelep," is said to be very fond of 
him. Unfortunately, the kelep cannot stand the northers 
and is not available. In Guatemala there is a weevil re- 
sistant race of cotton which may enable a similar race to 
be developed in Texas. Burning the cotton stalks at the 
end of the picking season and planting early maturing 
varieties tend to reduce the boll weevil. Dry weather is 
unfavorable to this pest. Certainly the scare and perhaps 
the damage due to the boll weevil is not as great as ten 
years ago, although 1915 was a year of many weevils and 
much damage. 

The boll weevil is not the only enemy of cotton, the boll- 
worm ranking second and the army-worm third in destruc- 
tiveness. Locusts, cut-worms, leaf -bugs, blister mites, "cot- 
ton stainers," and various other insects feed on cotton, 
and all told, do nearly as much damage as the boll weevil 
alone. "Root rot," "wilt disease," and "boll rot" are 
three fungoid diseases which also do damage in Texas. No 



KING COTTON 141 

remedy is known for the first and last, but some progress 
has been made by Mr. E. L. Rivers of South Carohna in 
breeding by selection a wilt-resisting stock. In general, 
these pests prevail more in rainy seasons than in dry. 

Cotton-picking time is three months or more in length. 
Blooms, green bolls, and ripened cotton may be found on 
the same bush at the same time. The open bolls will drop 
their cotton to the ground unless it is gathered within a 
reasonable time that varies with the kind of cotton and 
with the amount of wind and rain; consequently as cotton 
ripens it is picked, the same field being gone over several 
times as the bolls open and disclose the snowy cotton. 
The picking season lasts from July to November, and 
the fields are often white with cotton in December. A 
small child can pick his quota of cotton, so whole families 
camp by the sides of fields, and "cotton-pickin' time" is 
a period of social festivity as well as of profit. 

The dropping of the cotton fleece to the contaminating 
ground, the grabbing of twigs and leaves by careless pick- 
ers, the leaving of the picked cotton in piles on the ground, 
all cause damage to the cotton which ginning does not 
wholly remove. The owner desires that his cotton be 
picked promptly and often, the picker that the cotton be 
mostly open and ready to pick so that much may be gath- 
ered in a day. The prices paid for picking cotton vary of 
course with the prices of both cotton and labor, hovering 
around 65 cents per 100 pounds of seed cotton. Since the 
seed weighs two-thirds and the lint one-third of the total, 
the cost for picking 100 pounds of lint cotton is about $2. 
Numerous tales of persons picking four and five hundred 



14^ THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

» 

pounds of seed cotton in one day are to be heard from the 
hps of the local Munchausens; 900 pounds have been picked, 
but 300 pounds are a good day's work for a grown man un- 
der the most favorable circumstances. 

" Me an* my pardner an' my pardner's frin' 
Can pick moh cotton than a gin can gin." 

Of course the amount of open cotton on the stalks has 
much to do with the amount that may be picked. Once a 
boy worked for three weeks to pick a single bale, but was 
given all the cotton for picking it. The time taken was 
not due to marked laziness but to the fact that a drought 
had smitten the cotton so that the bolls dried up without 
opening and twenty -five acres were required to produce the 
bale. To pound open the dried bolls with a hammer took 
time. Now a machine would hull and gin such cotton in 
a very little while. 

Despite strenuous efforts to make one, no very successful 
cotton-picking machine has yet appeared. When it does 
it will upset the cotton patch, a social institution, and cause 
an industrial revolution. There will be comparatively little 
to do in the fall but to watch the machine, to gather pecans, 
to eat, and to go fishing or hunting. 

After being picked and loaded into wagons the cotton is 
hauled to one of the 4,000 Texas gins, is there sucked from 
the wagon up a spout and run through the gin which saws 
the lint from the seed and delivers the lint to the press and 
the seed to a bin. The country gin is decreasing in numbers, 
with a marked tendency toward bigger and better gins. 
The gin operates very much after the fashion of a boy 



KING COTTON 14S 

eating watermelon: the seeds drop outward from the 
corners of his mouth and the pulp slips downward to his 
stomach. Pressed into bales, sold by the farmer, or, as 
is unfortunately too often true, used by him to pay debts 
contracted while raising it, the bale wanders to the railroad, 
is shipped to central points, and is there compressed. It 
drifts on through Houston to Galveston and there takes 
ship for Europe and the North. Very little Texas cotton 
is manufactured into Texas cloth, most of it going to Europe. 
To press cotton into a bale and then to compress it into a 
smaller bale is a wasteful process involving much loading 
and unloading of freight cars, much delay, and much ex- 
pense. The sampling of bales, the bagging and ties that 
hold and protect the bale are all subjects of violent con- 
troversy and seem to be capable of much more satisfactory 
adjustment. 

Snow time in Texas is not in winter but in the fall, when 
cotton is everywhere and the fields are white with the open 
bolls. Under the trees or out in the open stand wagons 
loaded with cotton. Piled on the ground are huge cones of 
cotton, local Fusiyamas which grow by the labors of the 
pickers. Around the gins are wagons loaded with the un- 
ginned cotton, piles of seed, and hundreds of bales of ginned 
cotton ready for shipment. On roads in wagons, on railway 
platforms, in cotton yards, on freight cars, are thousands 
of bales. Just as the rivers carry the waters southeast- 
ward to the Gulf, so down the railroads to Houston and 
Galveston flow most of these bales, making Houston the 
greatest cotton market in the world and Galve&ton second 
only to New York as a port of exit for American produce. 



:; 



144 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

The heaviest cotton-producing region in the world is the 
Black Prairie, where many counties have produced each 
more than 50,000 bales in a year. In fact, Ellis County 
has nearly touched 200,000 bales, and Waxahachie, its 
county seat, is the greatest farm cotton market in the 
world. More bales from the farms reach the trains at 
















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THE BANNER COTTON YEAR 


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Waxahachie than at any other point in the world. Mc- 
Lennan, Williamson, Hill, Collin, Kaufman, and Fannin 
are the other counties whose cotton crops have each ex- 
ceeded 100,000 bales. East Texas has something to say 
for herseK, however. "On exhibition in the Cotton Ex- 



KING COTTON 145 

change in New York City is a bale grown in Panola County. 
It took first prize at the Philadelphia Centennial, at the 
World's Fairs in Paris, Chicago, and St. Louis. Enclosed 
in silk bagging and encircled by silver ties, it is a permanent 
tribute to east Texas." 

As population advanced westward so did cotton, which 
is now raised far up in the Panhandle where formerly 
deemed impossible. This westward and northern exten- 
sion of the cotton area has been in part due to the invention 
of a gin that successfully extracts the cotton from bolls 
which remain unopened because the frost caught them 
before maturity. Such cotton is known to the trade as 
"bolly." 

The contestants in the Boys' and Girls' Texas Cotton 
Club have each year averaged over a bale to the acre. In 
1914 the average was a bale and a third. A fair number of 
contestants have exceeded two bales, and one or two have 
gone above two and a half. Ovid G. Myers of Cookville 
made 2.67 bales in 1913. 



COTTON YIELD AND PRICES 



YEARS 


YIELD 
PER ACRE 


BALES 

U. S. 


FARM 
PRICE 


MIDDLING 
GRADE 




TEXAS 


TEXAS 


U. S. 


1870-79 .... 


0.42 


0.35 






1880-89 .... 


0.37 


0.34 


43.00 


45.00 


1890-99 .... 


0.38 


0.36 


34.00 


34.50 


1900-1909 .... 


0.34 


0.37 


47.00 


48.50 


1010-13 .... 


0.33 


0.37 


57.00 


58.25 



The American bale is said to be the dirtiest package in 
commercial use, and tales are told of astonished English 



146 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

manufacturers discovering cook stoves and other weighty 
articles when opening bales. This method of disposing of 
useless household furniture, however, has fallen into dis- 
repute since the installation of a system of numbering 
bales which enables the places of origin to be traced. ''Coun- 
try damage" is the name applied to the dirt that gets into 
cotton before shipment and to the rotting of the fibre 
through expesure. 

For many years after the Civil War cotton was the one 
''money" crop. It could be kept easily, and money could 
be borrowed on it before the crop was raised. Owing to 
lack of quick transportation, scarcely any other crop had 
a cash value, but must be consumed at home. There was 
in the South plenty to eat and little money, and cotton was 
the one crop that brought money. Hence arose the "one- 
crop" system and living by buying on credit from the local 
grocery until the crop was raised. It is a bad system, but 
not a necessary accompaniment of cotton farming, for much 
cotton raising does not necessitate the raising of nothing 
else. The one-crop system is merely a bad habit that 
may be broken by diversification on the part of the farmer 
and by a different credit system on the part of the local 
merchant and banker. 

"Farmer went to the merchant 
To get some meat and meal; 
Merchant says to the farmer, 
'Boll weevils in your fiel'!' 
The merchant got half the cotton. 
The boll weevil got the rest; 
The farmer's wife had nothing 
But one old cotton dress," 




m 




A Texas Industrial Congress Demonstration Crop of Corn 
Raised by K. M. Woods at (iladcwntcr. I'laiitcd Ai)ril l.'Uli; picture taken 

,hilv.'5()th 



KING COTTON 147 

Raising so much "from the bush that bears fleece more 
beautiful than the wool of the sheep," as the Greeks of 
Alexander's army over twenty-two centuries ago described 
the cotton of India, raising far more cotton than her people 
can possibly use, Texas is very largely dependent for her 
prosperity upon a market for cotton and upon the price 
of the staple in the United States and in Europe. Hence it 
has happened in "the fatal sequence of the world," that the 
shooting of an Austrian Archduke has caused tenant farm- 
ers in Texas to suffer by thousands. The great European 
war at first so checked cotton exporting that for the first 
time since the Civil War there was no market and sales 
were nominal at 8 cents per pound, and even lower. So 
profound was the effect on Texas trade that a special session 
of the legislature was called to provide legal facilities for 
marketing, for building warehouses, for holding the cotton 
till the war ended. Commercial bodies, farmers' unions, 
all sorts of organizations arose to attempt to finance the 
farmer, whose cotton was his only security. The "Buy- 
a-bale" movement started by some unknown philanthropist 
resulted in the purchase of a considerable number of bales 
from tenants. This movement affected prices more by its 
moral force than by the number of bales actually purchased. 
The whole situation, in large part irremediable, and due to a 
real decrease in the demand for cotton, emphasized strongly 
the need of a better rural credit system in Texas. 

Until after the Civil War cotton seed, now selling at 
nearly $40 a ton, was regarded as almost worse than worth- 
less. It was occasionally fed to milk cows and plowed 
under as a fertilizer, but usually accumulated around gins, 



148 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

where it was considered to be a nuisance. An antebellum 
law in Mississippi fixed a penalty of $20 a day on a ginner 
who permitted cotton seed to remain near his gin in undue 
quantities, and a penalty of $200 for the throwing of cotton 
seed into streams. It was hard to burn, and when thrown 
away it rotted, emitted bad odors, and gave divers diseases 
to the pigs and cows that ventured to eat it. Nowadays, 
when a specialty is made of utilizing by-products and the 
packeries are trying to sell pig squeals to college boys for 
use at football games, cotton seed is cherished like the dia- 
monds of Kimberley. From 1,500 pounds of seed cotton 
there comes a 500-pound bale of lint and half a ton of seed, 
which last contains, at present prices, four or five dollars' 
worth of fertilizing material. Greater value may be ob- 
tained by removing the hull of the seeds from the meat 
within, the seeds by weight being nearly half hull and half 
meat. The meat when pressed yields one-fourth oil and 
three-fourths "cottonseed cake," the hulls furnish excellent 
fibre for high-grade paper and bran for cattle. Some day 
they'll make a new breakfast food out of hulls. The cotton- 
seed cake exceeds corn and wheat by 60 per cent, as a cattle 
feed, being very rich in proteins, fats, and bone-making 
materials, w^hile relatively poor in carbohydrates. Cotton- 
seed oil appears in protean forms, ranging from "genuine" 
olive oil and lard to soap and phonograph records. 

There are now more than 200 cottonseed oil mills in 
Texas crushing all the seed that is not fed directly to stock 
or used for replanting. At present about one and a half 
million tons of seed are crushed annually in Texas, from 
which about fifty million gallons of oil are extracted. Nat- 



KING COTTON 149 

urally Texas leads in the production of raw cottonseed 
oil. 

Bugs, beetles, and butterflies "work up" more of Texas 
cotton than does the Texan himself. The humming-bird 
in proportion to weight weaves more sycamore fuzz into 
nests than the Texan weaves cotton into clothing. Scarcely 
1 per cent, of the Texas cotton is used in cotton manufacture 
in Texas. Nor is the industry increasing as rapidly as the 
average industry. Less than twenty establishments, em- 
ploying some 2,000 persons, are engaged in it. Perhaps the 
Texas climate is not suited to it. Weaving cotton yarns 
and cloth is said to be very dependent on the humidity of 
the air, which greatly affects the behavior of the raw fibre. 
Artists have often deplored the lack of atmosphere in 
America; must we also deplore the lack of Lancashire 
humidity in Texas? The main reasons, however, for the 
failure oi cotton manufacturing in Texas are the lack of 
skilled labor (which can find more remunerative employ- 
ment in other ways), the lack of experienced management, 
and the prevalence of high interest rates. Five or six of 
the mills have nevertheless been very successful, manufac- 
turing duck chiefly. C. W. Post of Postum fame built in 
west Texas a cotton mill that sucks the cotton from the 
farmer's wagon, gins it, weaves it, and delivers hemmed 
sheets and pillow cases for shipment to New York and 
Chicago. 



CHAPTER IV 

FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWBRB 

"Bring the bankers and the brokers; 
Bring the engineers and stokers; 
Bring all the politicians now extant; 
Bring the butchers and the bakers, 
And the hot temale makers, 
And let 'em tell the farmers what to plant. 

But by the grace of Yankee Doodle, 

We will tell the whole caboodle 

We're going to plant exactly what we please." 

—Will P. Lockhart. 

REMOVE the cotton from the Texas crops and there 
is left a vast and various assortment of lesser crops 
•" whose total value is about equal to that of the 
cotton itself. In other words, leaving cotton and live 
stock out of account, there is raised annually between 200 
and 300 million dollars' worth of farm produce. This total 
is sufficiently imposing to create some interest in its con- 
stituent parts. 

Here and there in south Texas a banana tree flourishes 
except when it is shivering in the grip of an unusually cold 
norther. The fig, the orange, the lemon, and the grape- 
fruit maintain themselves along the coast, and while dam- 
aged by the severer northers, nevertheless, with proper 
management and freeze-resistant varieties, promise to be- 
come very profitable crops. In the Panhandle the staple 

150 




^ 




^."^iDfc.'lHitr- 






T#* 




^*'r. 










Six Tuns of Alfalfa Per Acre on an Irrigated Farm in the 1'amianule 

Sudan Grass, State Experiment Station, Spur 

Hauling Sigak C.vnk to Market, Lower Rio Grande Valley 

Loading Potatoes in Field Near Houston 



FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWERS 151 

crops of the Northern States flourish only a little incom- 
moded by a too ardent summer sun. Between these ex- 
tremes a thousand different fruits, vegetables, and field crops 
grow with astonishing but somewhat variable success. Texas 
crop averages give one but a poor idea of the enormous 
crops that are raised in the most favorable seasons. The 
stories so often told of men buying land at prices that as- 
tonished the old settlers and then making enough to pay for 
the land out of the first crop are mostly true. Unfortu- 
nately, many of the stories about failures are also true. 
Something depends on the climate, but a great deal depends 
on the farmer. The good farmer combined with the good 
season makes one kind of a story, the poor farmer and the 
poor season make another. 

If cotton be king, certainly corn is a duke, and it would 
strain the aristocracies of the world to furnish a title for each 
of the many crops. Earl and marquis, begum and rajah, 
judge and colonel, would all be used before we got down to 
soy beans and feterita, onions and asparagus. An agri- 
cultural durbar could be held in Texas that would put to 
the blush any royal durbar ever held in India. At its head 
would march King Cotton, scattering over Texas 300 mil- 
lions of golden dollars in good years and 200 millions in bad. 
The King, Nottoc as they call him in Houston, having 
passed, it is now time to adjust our eyes, dazzled by these 
millions, that we may see the lesser splendors of the attend- 
ant nobility. 

Corn comes next to cotton, producing nearly 100 millions 
of dollars a year despite the fact that the Texas droughts 
often catch the corn at critical times and thereby greatly 



152 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

reduce the yield. Corn is a crop that m^st have rain at 
certain times to produce well, and sometimes the fairest 
prospects are quickly blighted by a drought. Hot winds, 
which sometimes occur at times of unusually high tempera- 
tures, have been known to kill corn in a few hours. No 
wonder, therefore, that the Texas average is only twenty 
bushels to the acre, six below the United States average and 
fifteen below the banner corn states of Ohio and Illinois. 
However, not all of this falling below is due to the climate. 
The Texas Industrial Congress in 1911 began offering prizes 
for record-breaking crops. E. S. Kovar of Fayette was first 
in 1911 with almost 116 bushels of corn per acre, Alford 
Branch of Overton won with 167 bushels in 1912, Joe Dvorak 
of Sugarland with 152 bushels in 1913, J. H. Ross of Hen- 
derson with 164 bushels in 1914. More important than 
these records is the fact that the thousands of contestants 
scattered over most of Texas averaged a little more than 
60 bushels to the acre in 1913, in 1914, and in 1915. In 1911, 
a very bad crop year, when the state average was only nine 
bushels to the acre, the hundreds of corn contestants aver- 
aged thirty-one. 

Corn follows cotton from county to county and is grown 
all over the eastern two-thirds of Texas in rough proportion 
to the population. Collin in the black land belt is the ban- 
ner corn county. A farm is rarely planted entirely to corn, 
which is generally grown in rather small patches on nearly 
all the farms. The annual crop has reached 200 millions of 
bushels, but in bad seasons it drops below 100 millions. 
Even in the worst years there are plenty of luscious roasting 
ears, with plenty of butter to smear upon them. 



FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWERS 153 

Unlike corn, wheat and oats are somewhat locahzed, the 
wheat more than the oats. These crops grow mostly from 
the Red River southward over the Grand Prairie and the 
Red Beds, though scattering far beyond these limits. Den- 
ton is the banner wheat country, with Wichita second; 
Grayson is ahead in oats, with Collin second. The amount 
of wheat and oats planted in successive years is quite varia- 
ble. For a long time there was a marked decline, but an 
increase has taken place in recent years — an increase mark- 
edly accelerated by the European war and consequent low 
price of cotton. Texas is now able to supply all of her 
people with white bread made from wheat grown at home. 
The Texas demand for oats is such that it will absorb almost 
any amount that is raised, even the 40,000,000 bushels of a 
banner year. Normally about 1 per cent, of the area of 
Texas is being used to raise both wheat and oats. 

Loud wailings have been legitimately based on the sad 
fact that Texas has been importing annually many millions 
of bushels of corn, oats, and wheat. Texas is too far south 
to be peculiarly fitted to grow these important cereals, 
which seem to flourish best in the central parts of the tem- 
perate zone. Nevertheless, the production per acre of oats 
and wheat is well abreast of the United States average, even 
if the production of corn is a little below. Records of more 
than 3,000 pounds of wheat to the acre are not very rare. 
It is not economical to raise bananas in Nova Scotia or to 
manufacture lawn mowers far from the iron and coal needed 
to make them and from the grass they are to mow. No 
such objections may be urged to the proposal to raise more 
cereals in Texas. In good years they will produce abun- 



154 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

dantly, and wheat and oats mature so early that favorable 
summers permit of the raising of a second crop of some kind 
on the stubble land. Moreover, under present conditions, 
the farm value per acre of Texas wheat and oats is greater 
than it is in the great wheat and oats states, yet the per- 
centage of farms raising corn and oats seems on the whole 
to be decreasing. 

We come now to that aquatic cereal, rice, planted for 
forty centuries, the staple food of a half of the human race, 
greatest among the irrigated crops, and planted to the ex- 
tent of 250,000 acres in suitable places on the Coastal Plain, 
chiefly along the Neches River in Jefferson County and along 
the Colorado River in Matagorda and Wharton counties. 
Practically all of the rice fields are irrigated by pumping 
from streams or wells. The total cost of the necessary em- 
bankments, ditches, and pumping machinery has been from 
$10 to $20 per acre. The ditches, by the way, are on the 
top of the land. In Texas the details of rice and wheat 
growing are nearly the same, exception being made of the 
fact that the rice is grown in water. The yield and the 
quality of the rice have been better than in Louisiana. The 
water stands from four to ten inches deep, according to the 
height of the rice. The land, of course, must be drained 
before harvest. The average yield has been close to thirty- 
five bushels per acre. The Blue Rose is the best variety in 
yield and is the most hardy, though Japan and Honduras 
rice are extensively planted. Too much rain and wind 
during the harvest season is the rice grower's chief trouble. 
A failure of the water supply for the pumping plant is, of 
course, ruinous when it occurs. The large pumping plants 



FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWERS 155 

sometimes reverse the courses of the streams and in times 
of drought draw salt water from the Gulf up the rivers. 

Between 1900, when there were only 9,000 acres in rice, 
and 1906 the rice industry practically began in Texas, 
200,000 acres being planted for the first time during those 
years. There was a boom, and many persons ignorant of 
rice lost money in trying to raise it. Extensive irrigation 
projects were undertaken; many went into the rice business, 
and even from far Japan, forgetting geisha girls and cherry 
blossoms, came a hundred or more Japs to labor in the 
Texas rice fields. Since 1906, however, the development 
has not been very rapid. This is not the first time that the 
rice acreage has been nearly at a standstill: in 1850 there 
were 110 acres in rice; in 1890 there were 135. Rice is 
generally handled in large acreages; what is practically 
one management, for example, handles 30,000 acres near 
Houston. Farms of a thousand acres are common. 

Lack of drainage causes the water in which the rice grows 
to "sour" the land. The remedy is to plant the land fre- 
quently in dry-land crops or to let it lie out, planting rice 
only about a half or a third of the time. This remedy gets 
rid of the second-growth red rice and other aquatic plants 
that flourish in shallow water to the detriment of the rice, 
but reduces the rice acreage, and unfortunately disturbs 
the otherwise happy bullfrogs and crawfishes, who do not 
understand why the big pumps that ordinarily send small 
rivers of water through long ditches to their rice fields have 
quit working. 

What a contrast to turn from the water-covered rice 
fields to the dust-covered fields of Kaffir corn and milo 



156 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

maize planted by the dry farmers of the highly evaporative 
west. Where the rainfall is between fifteen and twenty- 
five inches these forage crops have increased rapidly in 
popularity and are destined to be raised in ever-increasing 
amounts unless displaced by the recently imported African 
feterita, or Sudan grass, or other similar and better crops. 
The relative merits of cowpeas, soy beans, and various kinds 
of millets and sorghums are continually being tested, the 
United States Department of Agriculture wisely importing 
new varieties from Africa and elsewhere. Just now Sudan 
grass and feterita are being tried extensively. Each is 
new to America, while Kaffir corn and milo maize have been 
raised for years. The farm journals are full of articles on 
these various forage crops which, collectively, are of very 
great importance. Something over a million acres are now 
being planted with Kaffir corn, milo maize, sorghum, millet, 
feterita, Sudan grass, Hungarian grass, Egyptian wheat, 
emmer, spelt, Johnson grass, and alfalfa. The value of 
these forage crops runs close to fifteen millions of dollars. 
Their food value is high, and when cut at the right time 
they make a most excellent ensilage for those huge cans 
called silos. A windmill and a house, a cattle pen and some 
trees about the pond, a small garden and a big patch of 
Kaffir corn or milo maize are the external essentials of a 
northwest Texas home. In the Texas Industrial Congress 
contests the average production per acre (in each case about 
three times the state average) was more than two tons one 
year and three tons the next two years. The best individual 
records are in the neighborhood of five tons of fodder, in- 
cluding 150 bushels of seed. Mr. F. W. Davis, Commis- 



FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWERS 157 

sioner of Agriculture, thinks that it will not be long before 
the sorghum grains will be used for human food. 

If to the cultivated grains, hays, and grasses we add the 
wild grasses, almost endless in variety and producing at 
least twenty millions of dollars a year, we get a total pro- 
duction whose value is nearly 200 millions a year. Owing 
to the fact that the live stock gather the uncultivated native 
grasses themselves with but little human labor to aid them, 
the cash value of the wild grasses is not nearly as great 
as that of an equal amount of stock feed raised by the sweat 
of man's brow. The wild grasses are therefore far more 
important, in fact, than they seem to be when compared 
with the other crops in terms of dollars. 

The mention of sorghum reminds one of sorghum mo- 
lasses, which in turn reminds one of sugar cane and syrup 
and sugar. So saccharine a combination ought to be pro- 
duced in large quantities, but such is not the case. Less 
than 100,000 acres of sorghum cane are planted, and only 
about 500,000 gallons of molasses are made from that por- 
tion of the cane which is not eaten by sweet-toothed chil- 
dren or fed to stock. Moreover, the amount of sugar cane 
planted is very variable. It has been estimated that 
600,000 acres in Texas are peculiarly fitted for sugar cane, 
an area twice as large as all the cane fields of Louisiana. 
This area lies nearly altogether in the lower valleys of the 
Brazos, the Colorado, and the Rio Grande. Most of the 
sugar cane has so far been raised along the Colorado and 
Brazos by convict labor on the large state and privately 
owned plantations. The abolition of convict labor, the 
early frost of 1912, and tariff tinkering have greatly dis- 



158 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

turbed and reduced the production of sugar, which is now 
less than half of the 15,000 tons that it was once. The Rio 
Grande Valley, with irrigation, has proved itself a wonderful 
sugar-cane region, but the future of sugar production in 
that region is as yet somewhat uncertain. From thirty to 
forty tons of cane may be raised per acre and four crops 
may be made from the same stubble, both figures being 
far in excess of the corresponding ones for Louisiana. 
These remarkable results led to a sugar-cane boom, which 
has collapsed, sugar cane giving place to crops of less value 
but surer yield. It will certainly be a sweet by-and-by 
when Texas increases her present paltry production of 
sugar and syrup until it provides all the "lick" and "sweet- 
ening" that is good for Texas stomachs and leaves enough 
sorghum and cane stalks for the children to chew. 

The use of fertilizers has been almost unknown in Texas, 
and the fertile soils, almost but not quite inexhaustible, 
are, in very old fields, beginning to show signs of failure. 
Consequently fertilizers are coming more and more into 
use, another sign that the primitive agriculture of frontier 
days is giving way to that which knows about the chemistry 
of soils, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, and all the other para- 
phernalia of the "book farmer." 

" Would you make the old farm fatter 
Stuff it with organic matter." 

It makes no difference when the hard-headed conserva- 
tive objects to new things in farming; he can't keep botany 
and chemistry out of Texas, in fact, he can't keep them out 
of himself. So now there is a law governing commercial 




Pholngraph hy Wheelus, San Bin. to 
C.iBBAGE IN THE RiO GrANDE VaLLEV IN MaRCH 




(. n nil \ nt ( I I I {. I- y , in I inn 
(jAlHLRlNL LurXLtL NEAR bA.\ HeMIO 




TWENTV-EIGHT HaLBKKT PkCANS IN ThREE CLUSTERS GROUN ON HlIDS ThREB 

Years Old 
Grown by F. T. Ramsey and Son, Auslia 



FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWERS 159 

fertilizers and their prices; there is also an increasing use of 
stock manures and an increasing production of such nitrogen- 
producing legumes as cowpeas, peanuts, soy beans, alfalfa, 
and bur-clover. The Industrial Congress has made cow- 
peas one of its prize-winning crops, the average production 
per acre of the numerous contestants being 3.75, 2.84, and 
3.79 tons in three successive years. The record is 36.48 
tons of hay and peas grown on two and one-half acres by 
C. A. Doss of Rockdale, who made a net profit of $905 on 
ten acres planted in cowpeas, corn, cotton, and milo maize. 
Peanuts also, in the contests, average nearly three tons to 
the acre; Miss Emma Stokes of Henderson holds what is 
thought to be a world's championship. She grew 4,256 
pounds of peanut hay and 232 bushels of peanuts, a total of 
11,294 pounds, on one acre. Moral: 

"Do not let the ground lie bare; 
Keep some green crop growing there." 

\Miat an appetite has Texas! Her sweet potato crop 
she entirely consumes at the rate of more than a thousand 
bushels a day. Irish potatoes disappear three times as 
fast, three-fourths of them being imported. Down the 
capacious throat of Texas there also goes daily more than 
two thousand bushels of peas and three thousand bushels 
of beans, mingled with 400,000 pounds of tea and coffee 
sweetened with a million pounds of sugar. Add $100,000 
a day for fruit and vegetables, $10,000 for nuts, and the 
Texas board bill in all its magnificence will begin to dawn 
upon you. From soup to nuts costs something when more 
than four million people are eating. 



160 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

The total amount of fruit and vegetables raised in Texas 
is difficult to ascertain, but is said to be in the neighborhood 
of $40,000,000 a year, although scarcely half the farms 
report appreciable quantities either of vegetables or fruits. 
Of course, immense quantities are eaten on the farm or 
locally and escape all statistical record. This $40,000,000 
is a gross underestimate. Any one that knows anything, 
knows that the average Texan eats much more than any $10 
worth of fruits and vegetables in a year; he often eats that 
much in a month. What gets counted is what is shipped — 
70,000 carloads in 1915 according to John S. Kerr of Sher- 
man, only a small fraction of the whole. Early onions are 
shipped from Laredo and Brownsville by carloads that are 
counted in thousands. Says Joe K. Taylor of the Dallas 
News: "The Laredo onion is a food as well as a relish. 
People can live on Laredo onions and remain popular." 
In similar quantities cabbages and tomatoes go out of the 
southwest coast country in very early spring. In 1912, 
700 cars of cabbages were produced near Harlingen on 
2,500 acres. From six to eight tons per acre, at $35 per 
ton, is profitable. In 1914, however, there was over- 
production and loss. A little later thousands of car- 
loads of tomatoes and peaches depart from Jacksonville, 
Tyler, and other towns located in the western part of the 
Forested Area. Almost everywhere all sorts of vegetables 
are produced in an abundance limited only by the size of 
the gardens and the skill or industry of the cultivators. 
Millions of melons and cantaloupes grow everywhere lux- 
uriantly, needing only a little water through the summer to 
keep the vines bearing continuously. They appear in huge 



FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWERS 161 

piles at picnics and camp-meetings, and are hawked about 
every town. More than a hundred thousand in a year have 
been shipped out of Brenham and Hempstead. Parker 
County claims to produce the banner watermelons. Cu- 
cumbers, radishes, beets, squash, peppers, mustard, egg 
plants, okra, and a multitude of other garden stuff are 
widely raised in commercial quantities. In descending order 
of importance peaches, pecans, strawberries, apples, dew- 
berries and blackberries, pears, figs, grapes, and plums are 
produced in amounts that range in value from a million 
dollars in the case of peaches down to a hundred thousand 
dollars in the case of plums. The Swinden pecan grove at 
Brownswood is said to be the first ever planted in the world 
for commercial purposes. Now II. A. Halbert is topping 
this grove to graft the pecan named after him upon the 
trees. San Saba County, home of E. E. Risien, the pecan 
"wizard," produces more pecans than any of the states 
except three. The invention by William Gebhardt of 
San Antonio of nut-cracking machinery that rapidly re- 
moves the whole kernels from the shell has boomed the 
pecan industry and made the G. A. Duerler Manufactur- 
ing Company the largest rehandlers of pecans in the 
w^orld. 

A few carloads of hickory nuts are shipped each year from 
Tyler. The Bermuda onion was first introduced at Cotulla 
in 1898 by T. C. Nye. In a few years Texas oversupplied 
the market. The rural Italians are raising garlic. The 
main trouble with the extensive cabbage industry is over- 
production, defective marketing conditions, and northern 
cold storage competition. The Magnolia fig is so prolific 



162 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

that Mr. R. H. Bushway says: *'In September I have counted 
thirty-two figs on a tree grown from a cutting planted in 
March. " In addition to all these abundant vegetables and 
fruits there is a sprinkling of oranges, raspberries, walnuts, 
apricots, Japanese persimmons, almonds, grapefruit, quinces, 
mulberries, currants, lemons, guavas, pawpaws, and avocado 
pears. 

Mention should be made of T. V. Munson of Denison, 
decorated by the French Government because of his hybrid- 
izing work with the Muscadine grape. Dying in 1913, 
possessed of a wonderful vineyard, he had written two 
excellent books on grapes. F. T. Ramsey of Austin has 
grown an astonishing variety of plants in quantities that 
in a few cases make world records. 

The growing of citrus fruit in Texas is full of interesting 
possibilities and dangers. Scattered over the coast country 
are a number of orange trees which have grown from seeds 
planted as long as sixty-five years ago. Although these 
early planted trees were pretty systematically neglected, 
they have lived for many years and borne much fruit. Near 
Beaumont, on the old McFaddin place, are orange trees 
planted more than sixty -five years ago, wdiich are now mainly 
clumps of sprouts, but which are still bearing some fruit. 
In Brazoria, on the Bryan place, are some trees also sixty 
years old whicj. have been frozen down three or four times, 
but which bear again within three or four years after freez- 
ing. The record-breaking freeze of 1899 failed to destroy 
most of the older trees, and since that time there has been 
much planting of the various citrus fruits. The November 
freeze of 1911 has checked development. It was the Elberta 



FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWERS 163 

peach situation over again. Many persons without any 
technical knowledge of or peculiar fitness for their new work 
had gone into the fruit-raising business expecting to make 
a lot of money. Failure resulted, because such persons are 
not able to conquer the difficulties that are inevitably en- 
countered. Ignorance is no more of an advantage in farm- 
ing than elsewhere. What seems to be true, according to 
Prof. H. H. Hume, is this: careful cultivation leading to very 
dormant trees in winter time, combined with firepots during 
the worst northers, will make Texas a great citrus state. 
It will take money, it will take brains, it will bring a rich 
reward, it is sure to come. Not everywhere in south Texas 
w^ll citrus fruits be found, because there are unsuitable soils, 
but, grafted on "trifoliata" or some other freeze-resistant 
stock, will be so many Mandarin and Satsuma and Tanger- 
ine and Dugat oranges, so many Pomelos and Kumquats, 
perhaps even so many lemons and dates and olives, that in 
talking of such fruits in 1950 we'll refer to Texas first and 
then to California. The possibilities are beyond question; 
all that is needed is an economical means of circumventing 
the most extreme northers. Mr. Gilbert Onderdonk of 
Victoria, a veteran in fruit growing, thinks that four crops 
in five years will be the average. Oranges freeze both in 
California and Florida, yet have made "big money," as a 
rural Texan once said when he bought for 8 cents by mail 
what he could have gotten at the home store for 10 cents. 
Read Gilbert Onderdonk's "Pomological Possibilities of 
Texas" and be convinced; profit by the experience of E. S. 
Stockwell of Alvin, pioneer orange man. 

"Texas products, various in kinds, vast in amounts, and 



164 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

voluminous iu size," cries the editor when some friendly 
subscriber deposits in his sanctum an 8-pound sweet potato, 
a 115-pound watermelon, a radish 34 inches long, a beet 44 
inches around, or a peach that won't go into a quart cup. 
Very large fruits and vegetables are often produced in 
Texas, sometimes in abundant amounts, but it is difficult 
to get the exact sizes and weights of those that "beat the 
record." 

No wonder that the slogans "Raise It in Texas," "Make 
It in Texas," lead on logically to the inviting cry of "Come 
to Texas," where opportunity lurks in every valley and 
prosperity is but slightly hidden behind every hill. The 
intensive farming that the future is sure to bring will inevi- 
tably advance horticulture even more than agriculture. Then 
the Lord only knows what is going to happen to a lot of 
Texans that already have more to eat than is good for them. 
jMild winters and early springs make Texas a great place for 
the shipping of "early stuff" to the market. Later in the 
season, when fruits and vegetables are cheaper, the Texan 
can live all the rest of the summer upon what is left. A 
trifling thousand or two trainloads sent out in the spring 
wdll never be missed. Put that in your pipe and smoke it 
with Texas-grown tobacco that sometimes brings its grower 
a gross income of $150 per acre. 

Says H. W. Newby of San Antonio: "Unless our real 
estate men are the biggest liars this side of perdition. Heaven 
is no better place for producing angels than Texas is for 
raising fruits and vegetables." Heaven takes pretty good 
care of angels, but Texas doesn't yet preserve much of her 
products in cans or silos. Raising things in Texas v\'ith 



FROM CORN TO CAULIFLOWERS 165 

entire success demands industry, ability, and agricultural 
knowledge. It is only now and then that the soil and cli- 
mate are generous enough to allow some lazy and foolish 
fellow to break a crop record. Folly reaps about the same 
reward in Texas that it does anywhere else. 




CHAPTER V 

TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DATS 

*"I remember back in the seventies, full many summers past. 

There was grass and water plenty, but it was too good to last'; 

And the cowboy riz up sadly and mounted his cayuse 

Saying, 'The time has come when longhorns and their cowboys ain't no use! 

They answered well their purpose but their glory must fade and go, 

Because men say there's better things in the modern cattle show!'" 

— " The Last Longhom." 

VEN as Abraham with his flocks and herds came into 
the fair land of Canaan which had been given them, 
so came the pioneer cowman of frontier days into 
the broad free prairies of Texas where landowners were 
unknown and where the abundant grasses cured on the 
stem and furnished ample and nutritious food for stock all 
the year round. The story of the cow business in Texas 
is shot full with human interest. Men revealed themselves 
under the broadening influences of the boundless plains. 
The story exhibits with remarkable clearness the economic 
interactions of man and Nature. The great effect that a 
single invention may have on an industry is shown by the 
almost total change that the coming of barb wire produced 
in the cattle business. The dates in the story vary slightly 
from locality to locality, from state to state, but the essen- 
tials are everywhere nearly the same. Nowhere is there 
a better basis for the story than in Texas, which has been 
and is the leading state in the production of cattle. Parts 
of the story have been told over and over again, parts have 

166 




Courtesy of Farm tiiul Raiuli 

Fig Tree of H. G. Stilwell at San Benito 
Planted in .January and photograplied the following Ortoljer 




Chinese Jx^jubes from the Orchard of F. T. Ramsey and Sons, Austin 
Who state tliat they grow admirably in the Texas elimate and are therefore des- 
tined to become a staple fruit 




GkAI'KFIUIT in the RU) (UiAMJK V-VLLEY 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 167 

scarcely been told at all. Exaggerations and omissions 
have played havoc with truth, and few there be who can 
recall free-grass days as they really were. 

The story of cattle begins with "free grass," open coun- 
try, and bony Longhorns; it ends to-day with cottonseed 
cake, wire fences, black muleys, and bald-faced Herefords. 
Before the white man came large herds of buffaloes ranged 
almost undisturbed over all the prairie regions of Texas. 
Grass was abundant nearly everywhere. Frequent prairie 
fires kept down the growth of cactus, mesquite, chaparral, 
and shinnery. The grasses, according to the old timers, were 
astonishingly thick and tall, and there is abundant evidence 
that they held the rain wa ter closely enough to prevent much 
erosion of grass lands. Most of the land had already been 
laid off by surveyors whose lines and corners were uncertain 
because it is difficult to sight correctly through a compass 
with one eye and to look for Indians with the other. Some 
land had been given to various individuals for various 
reasons, some had been given as subsidies to the railroads, 
some had been held by the state for the benefit of the schools. 
The legal title to the land rested almost entirely in the 
hands of absentee owners. 

Before the advancing white man, the Indian, the buffalo, 
and the mustang promptly disappeared. Evidently not 
the fittest to survive, these aborigines were soon practically 
exterminated, giving place to white men, cattle, horses, and 
sheep. Virtually the pioneer cattleman had spread before 
him an unoccupied and apparently limitless sea of grass, 
sufficient to feed millions of cows. The interval that lasted 
from the fading away of the Indian to the coming of the 



168 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

legal owners of the land was the golden age of the old-time 
cowman. It was an all-too-brief age of more grass than 
cattle, an age when every man enjoyed a prospective for- 
tune, an Elizabethan age, therefore, in which the usual limita- 
tions of mankind seemed to be removed. The repressive 
lid that usually holds down the buoyant spirits of men was off. 
In the almost total absence of landowners there was much 
talk of grass and water rights, of ranges belonging to this or 
that ranch. It was very easy to forget the distant and silent 
legal owners of the range and to drop into the habit of re- 
garding the prairie upon which one lived as one's own. 
Custom, as a matter of fact, built up an unwritten law re- 
garding range rights, and, as the cowmen increased in num- 
bers, there were not as many conflicts as might have been 
expected. There was a live and let live spirit that greatly 
reduced the ill-feeling, bluffs, threats, and fights that oc- 
casionally occurred when a newcomer crowded in on an 
already occupied range. Fights and ill-feeling were much 
more common between cowmen and sheepmen than be- 
tween cowmen and cowmen. In certain places, for brief 
times, the collective struggle between cowmen and sheep- 
men attained the proportions of small wars. Many mur- 
ders were committed, nerves were tested in fair fights, the 
blow-hard was often put both to proof and to flight. It 
was a time for brave men and not for weaklings, conditions 
were slightly feral, there was not even a "scrap of paper" 
to protect imagined rights. There would have been many 
fights for cattle ranges had it not been for two facts : at first 
there was more than enough grass for all, at the end it was 
hopeless to stem the invading swarm. 




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Coiirlcsy of the Dallas A'ca's 

A Few Surviving Longhorns PnoTociRAPHEo by Haktixg, Brownwoku 
Note the rough hair wliich is shed as spring advances 




Courtesy of llie Bureau of bUonomiL Cieotoi;y 

Watkr Tank and Cattl.'; 
A typical Texas scene 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 169 

In the palmy days of abundant free grass each pioneer 
stockman thought that he had struck it rich and had no 
trouble at all in proving it on paper. His theory of one- 
fourth calves and one-twelfth steers was not so very far 
wrong, granted grass enough. A bunch of twelve hundred 
ordinary stock cattle will produce three hundred calves 
and one hundred steers in a year. The sale of steers will 
yield an easy income, and the excess of calves over steers 
will produce a net increase of one-sixth of the bunch. Any 
one who has figured compound interest at rates of from 
15 to 20 per cent, knows that such a rate of increase will 
double the principal in four or five years, and quadruple 
it in eight or ten years. No wonder that every free-grass 
cowman could think that he would "soon be heeled." Al- 
most every one of the owners of many cattle is able to look 
back on his past and say that a few heifers and an uncrowded 
country "made him." Moreover, for a time things went 
in fact as they did in theory, and the number of cattle in 
Texas more than doubled between 1875 and 1885. The 
number nearly doubled between 1880 and 1890 in spite of 
big "dies" due to hard winters and starvation. During 
these years cattlemen borrowed at very excessive rates of 
interest and yet made money. What a pity it was that a 
IMalthusian serpent lurked in the beautiful Eden, the same 
old serpent that is going to wreck some too lovely schemes 
of social reform. 

Men of the free-grass days have usually found it hard to 
accustom themselves wholly to the more prosaic procedure 
of to-day, when there are in all Texas only a few dozen free- 
grass ranches left. The type of Western cowman was 



170 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

developed to perfection in tliose days. Outlaws and des- 
perados were there in great variety and some quantity, 
but were greatly outnumbered by the honorable and brave 
men who, when they went after a bad man, did so quietly, 
unostentatiously, and effectively. A murderer or a horse 
thief was often very conscientiously strung up on the near- 
est limb afler a very informal trial that frequently had more 
real justice about it than our present prolonged court-house 
doin's manipulated by slick lawyers. The capturing and 
hanging of an armed desperado by a few brave men is quite 
a different affair from the lynching of an unarmed negro 
by a mob. The ordinary cowman's sense of justice and 
f airplay was excellent ; he was a real democrat who measured 
a man by his intrinsic qualities rather than by more or less 
accidental accessories such as wealth or education. Treach- 
ery he despised and generosity he admired. Mr. Roosevelt 
has pointed out that the days of free grass were essentially 
similar to the days of medieval England, Jesse James taking 
the place of Robin Hood. The songs of the cowboys cor- 
respond to the ballads of the Scottish Border, and the rop- 
ing and riding contests of to-day are the lineal descendants 
of courtly tournaments. The Knights of King Arthur's 
Round Table and the Texas broncho busters have been 
poured from the same mould. 

There was romance, but there was also routine. The 
free-grass cattle business of necessity gave rise to an inter- 
esting system of cooperation about w^hich but little has 
been printed. In the absence of fences the cattle of differ- 
ent owners naturally intermingled a great deal. Moreover, 
the winter northers caused the cattle to drift south in large 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 171 

numbers for many miles. In the smooth open country the 
drift was greater of course than in the breaks of the hilly 
and timbered country. As a consequence, the cattle of 
various owners were almost inextricably mixed, and those 
of a single owner were scattered often over hundreds of 
square miles. Hence arose the necessity of branding cattle 
with marks of ownership and of worldng the range in con- 
cert with other cowmen. 

In the spring, as soon as the new grass had strengthened 
both the cattle and the cow ponies, each ranch, in rude pro- 
portion to the number of its cattle, sent out one or more 
outfits to work the range. The nucleus of each outfit con- 
sisted of a "chuck wagon," a team to pull it, and a cook. 
The wagon was covered with a "sheet," the front part of 
the bed was full of provisions, the hind part was filled with 
the hospitable mess box whose lid formed a table upon 
which the supposedly cranky cook regularly worked and 
upon which the boys occasionally shot dice. On top of the 
provisions the bedclothes and other small equipment of the 
cowboys were usually thrown. 

"It's cloudy in the west and a-looking like rain. 
And my damned old slicker's in the wagon again." 

There were usually from five to thirty men with a wagon, 
and each man had from four to ten horses. 

"Half -past four! the noisy cook will roar. 
Hurrah, boys! She's breakin' day! 
Slowly then we rise and wipe our sleepy eyes; 
The sweet dreamy night has passed away." 

The third line of this quotation is more poetic than truthful, 
for, sleeping mostly in his day clothes, a few minutes suf- 



17^ THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

ficed for a cow puncher to dress, to wash his face when there 
was water enough, to catch and saddle his horse, to eat 
breakfast, and to get on the drive. Particularly in cold 
weather it was not common to "peel off" many clothes 
when going to bed in camp. Hence sometimes he was 

" With Stetson hat and jingling spurs and leather up to knees. 
Grey-backs as big as chili beans and fighting like hell with fleas." 

Breakfast quickly eaten, the cook moved his wagon to 
the next camping place, the horses of the outfit and the 
cattle already collected were drifted slowly in the same 
direction, while most of the cowboys beat the country 
for more cattle, riding rapidly but systematically, yodelling 
and sometimes firing six-shooters into the air to start the 
range cattle forward. In general, more noise was made in 
brushy country than in open, as it is easier to scare a year- 
ling out of a thicket by yelling than to ride in looking for it. 
The tendency of all cattle to start when a few begin to move 
was a great help. 

In general, range cattle bunched up and began to trot off 
as they heard or saw the approaching cowboys. "One of 
the prettiest sights I ever saw," writes an old Texas cow- 
man, "was a cool September morning drive when a bunch 
of wild cattle led by three or four big old 'moss backs' raised 
their heads as they saw us coming and made a dash for 
liberty across the divide to the sheltering canon. When he 
sees the rising sun flashing on their horns as they ' break to 
run' your real cow pony will straighten out his neck, grab the 
bit in his teeth, and 'light out' after them. If you are not 
a cripple or a paralytic you'll ride as you never rode before." 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 17S 

Ten horses to a man was not unusual, as the horses had to 
hve on grass only. In such a case two were used for night 
herding, and each of the remaining eight was ridden on the 
drive for a fourth of a day, every other day. Pete, Dick, 
Paint, Spanish, Blue, Hellfire, Bean-belly, and Baldy were 
frequent names for cowboys' ponies. A considerable herd 
of horses, watched by a horse *' rustler," or "wrangler," 
consequently accompanied each wagon. This rustler was 
often a boy, and the cowboys often boys themselves, 

"Learned him to wrangle horses and to try to know them all, 
And to get them in at daylight if he could." 

Often, however, the boy rustler got a lot of undeserved 
cussin' when one horse hurt another or a hobble skinned the 
forelegs of some favorite pony. 

A boss accompanied each wagon. He was sometimes the 
owner of the outfit. Except wdiere negroes or Mexicans 
were involved, an almost perfect democracy prevailed be- 
tween the boss, the cowboys, and the cook. Racial antago- 
nisms were strong but not unkindly. Great were the talks 
around the campfires at night. Sometimes a "feller from 
the East" would tell of crowded cities, sometimes a cheerful 
song like "The Dying Cowboy" would be sung, sometimes 
a night herder singing would stampede a bunch of too appre- 
ciative cattle. Once a camp was divided for days on what 
was a veritable bone of contention — namely, the position of 
the real knee of a horse. LTpon another occasion a camp fell 
into violent disagreement over the subjection of evolution 
artfully and mirthfully suggested to it in the form of an 
equation: a pig has the same number of bones as a man. 



174 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Men who owned only small bunches of cattle usually went 
with the wagons of the larger ranches. Everybody helped 
in handling the cattle of everybody else. The larger ranches 
hired cowboys to help work the range. Everybody carried 
a "brand book" which gave the home, location, owners, and 
brands of the cattle. A cow was often passed from round- 
up to round-up back to her owner's ranch without the owner 
ever seeing her until she got home, and sometimes not then, 
home meaning anywhere within twenty miles of the ranch 
house when there happened to be a house. The whole 
scheme resembled the distribution of mail : the cowboys were 
the mail clerks, the cattle were the pieces of mail, the brands 
were the addresses on the pieces. 

A certain area having been thoroughly searched, all the 
cattle on it were crowded together at the round-up ground, 
w^hich then presented a scene of great activity. Hundreds 
(not thousands, as sometimes stated) of bellowing cattle 
surroimded by two or three dozen cowboys lost in an im- 
mense cloud of dust were the most prominent elements. 
The dust could be seen for miles, a great deal of it getting 
into the nostrils of the thirsty cow punchers. The cattle 
being rounded up, the process of "cutting out" began, a 
process analogous to throwing the mail in various bags for 
various towns. The herd having been subdivided into two 
or three subsidiary herds, these were driven in directions 
that would bring the cattle closer to their respective ranches. 
Before the days of pens to hold the cattle, the roping and 
branding of calves and the "cutting out" took place on the 
open prairie. A number of men were then needed to keep 
the cattle from scattering. 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 175 

Before the days of pens, holding a herd together required 
constant work by day and by night. Storms increased the 
difficulties and lightning the danger, it being a favorite 
trick for lightning to strike around the edge of the herd 
where the cowboys were, rather than in the herd. Holding 
a herd at night on the bare prairie without shelter and 
watching a tropical storm approach is no job for a molly- 
coddle. The roar of the approaching wind, the increasing 
claps of thunder, the more and more vivid flashes of light- 
ning, the electric glow on the horns of the cattle, conspired 
to make a cowboy yearn for a dry bed at home. 

Roping and riding were the arts of all arts, and above his 
saddle, his boots, his hat, or his spurs, the cowboy valued 
his "roping" and "cutting" horse. (This is said in spite 
of the frequent truth of the song about the " forty -dollar 
saddle and the ten-dollar horse.") Marvellous indeed was 
the way in which a six-hundred-pound horse could "hold" 
and "throw" a twelve-hundred-pound steer. It was a case 
of brains versus brawn. Almost equally wonderful was the 
pursuit by the "cutting horse" of a particular steer or cow 
until the latter was driven panting from the herd. As soon 
as the desired animal was made known to the horse, no 
dodging on its part was of any avail, the horse quickly 
*' worming" it out of the herd. Few greenhorns could stay 
on these quick-dodging horses. 

Although the testimony of such witnesses may be subject 
to some suspicion, all old Texas cow punchers who return 
from South America report that the astonishing stories we 
have all read about the Gauchos of Argentine and their 
skill with the lasso and bola are exaggerations, the South 



176 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Americans not surpassing or even equalling the ropers and 
riders of our wild and woolly West. Roping, of course, was 
a favorite theme of the cowboy poet: 

"He could catch a maverick by the horns or heel him on the fly, 
He could pick up both of his front ones whenever he chose to try." 

x\t the frequent roping and riding contests a big steer 
has often been caught, thrown, and hog tied in less than a 
minute. The world's record is held by Clay McGonagill, a 
Texas man w^ho, in strict accord with the rules, hog tied a 
steer at Douglas, Arizona, in 21j seconds. 

Before the effeminate days of the branding chute, the 
routine of branding involved catching the animal fore and 
aft by two mounted ropers, who so stretched out the cap- 
tured bovine that a third man on foot could easily tail it 
over on its side for a fourth man to stick the hot branding 
irons to its quivering skin. It was, of course, possible for 
two men alone to brand, especially if they had horses that 
were trained to stand and hold tight the ropes attached to 
the pommels of the saddles while their riders tailed and 
branded. The aristocrats were the ropers and bronco 
busters; the plebeians could only tail and brand for them. 
Hence social complications arose when, as sometimes hap- 
pened, a negro acquired great skill at roping and riding. 
The negro, however, got his due praise even if couched in 
apparently grudging language such as "That damned nigger 
can sure ride." 

There was a fall as well as a spring working, its chief 
object being to brand summer calves and the spring calves 
overlooked in the earlier round-ups. If a calf was not branded 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 177 

before it quit following its mammy it became a "maver- 
ick" and was likely to acquire an owner other than the owner 
of its mother. Overlooked calves the following winter be- 
came almost legitimate objects of acquisition, and watch- 
fulness through the winter has increased the calf crop of 
some far beyond the number of their cows. Of course a 
calf could be separated from its mother and branded differ- 
ently, but this was plain stealing, not mere mavericking. 
The ethics turned on whether the mother was or was not 
known to the man who put his brand on the calf of another 
man's cow. Many a man has been temporarily and even 
permanently incommoded or led to depart suddenly for 
unknown regions by a calf with his brand on it inexplicably 
insisting on following a cow of another brand. "Your 
calves don't suck the right cows," were the words once, 
used by a courageous frontier preacher in rebuking his 
cattle-stealing congregation. 

The origin of the various cattle associations was chiefly 
due to the need of checking the stealing of cattle. The 
stealing and eating of individual animals on the range was 
hard to stop, but the stealing and shipping away for sale of 
whole bunches was rather early ended by locating brand 
inspectors at shipping points. There, nowadays, repre- 
sentatives of the United States Bureau of Animal Industry 
also often inspect for Texas fever and other diseases. When 
cattle often ranged a hundred miles from home their owner 
needed some sort of an association to protect his interests. 
The present great Texas Cattle Raisers' Association started 
in Graham in 1877 as a small w^est Texas affair whose prime 
purpose was to catch cattle thieves. During its existence 



178 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

its inspectors have turned back nearly eighty thousand head 
of stolen cattle and have prevented the stealing of hundreds 
of thousands of others. 

In old days, as at present, the branding of ^calves and of 
other cattle, the watching for screw worms and fever ticks, 
the salting of cattle, the killing of coyotes and wolves, 
formed a part of the routine. *' Going up the trail," how- 
ever, has passed away. Due originally to the fact that the 
southern ranges were best for cows and calves, the northern 
for steers, it was and still is the practice to take young cattle 
from Texas to finish them for market in the north. This is 
now done by train and not by trail, and is not done as much 
as formerly. Grazing slowly as they went, it took nine 
months for a herd to make its way from Texas to Montana. 
Men are still alive who have driven cattle from Texas right 
into Chicago "on the hoof." 

"Whoopee ti yi, get along little dogies, 
For you know that Wyoming will be your new home." 

Going up the trail began after the Civil War and in one 
form or another lasted for many years. A few bunches 
went up the trail in the late sixties; in 1870 over haK a 
million head were driven out of Texas. Strangely enough, 
an old ''Trail Men's Association" was not formed till 1915. 
You must "have been one uv 'em" to belong to it. 

"I woke up one morning on the old Chisholm trail, 
A rope in my hand and a cow by the tail." 

There was romance about it, storms and stampedes, hard 
work, and no shelter. Additional excitement was furnished 




>* 




< 2 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 179 

when the northern dweller along the trails, alarmed at the 
so-called Texas fever, met the north-bound southern herds 
with shotguns and rifles. But the trail took the cowboys 
into new scenes and bulked largely in their talks, songs, and 
stories. As the railroads came nearer, the trails shortened 
and finally almost vanished. The shipping points where 
the trails ended were often the scenes of cowboy orgies which 
have been much magnified by the pens of Easterners who 
write of them. There was some shooting up of towns and 
riding of horses into saloons, but such episodes do not give 
one a fair idea of the cowboy. Imagine yourself on the 
range, with miles of sky above and miles of grass below, and 
after six months of alkali in your throat and dust in your 
nose you'll want to drink at least 'a bottle of soda water 
when you get to town. 

The domestic arrangements of the early cowman were as 
simple as those of the sheepman, and simpler than those of 
the "nester." His house was a cabin, a "box" room, or a 
covered hole dug down into the level ground or back into a 
hillside. Up through the large chimney of a hillside dugout 
in Stonewall County a startled pet deer once easily leaped. 
In the eloquent language of "Slade," who wrote many years 
ago of Texas life, these dugouts "towered toward China." 
Fashions in clothes did not change and were very definite. 
Clothes were washed somewhat oftener than their wearer 
went swimming, but often acquired a considerable amount 
of local color. High-heeled boots and sharp spurs were de 
rigeur, and, unfortunately for the horses, so were the cruel 
Spanish bits which often cost as much as $25. The boots 
were usually hand-made and, like the hats, cost ten or 



180 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

twelve dollars. The "chaps," or chaparejos, leather trou- 
sers to protect the usual trousers underneath from tearing 
thorns and brush, were often very expensively made. So 
were the saddles, ever the delight of the bronco-buster made 
bowlegged by much riding. Many stranded quirts and 
reatas, or lassos, were made of leather by skilled cowboys, 
the strands being often of different colors. Equally elab- 
orate and beautiful were the mecates, or hair ropes, made of 
hair from the tails of mares, usually called "broom tails" in 
the West. Ropes of human hair were much talked about 
but very rarely or never seen. 

Various and sundry were the brands and earmarks in- 
flicted upon the cattle. Old cows that had been sold several 
times and rebranded each time often presented a highly 
literary appearance. A whole book could be written on 
brands and earmarks, a book that would be full of the in- 
ventive fancy of man. At the various county seats brands 
were "recorded" in brand books to avoid duplication, the 
same brand being often recorded by the same owner in 
many counties. Of course a man often took his initials for 
his brand and consequently was labelled " Old PS" or "Old " 
something else. To the ordinary numbers and letters of 
the alphabet were added numerous interesting symbols 
such as the "lazy eight" OO, the "lazy S" CO, the 
"Bar M" J^J, the "half circle A" ^, the "block O" 
[O], the "rafter T" ^, the "M bar"M. and the "diamond 
A" ^. Pleasing combinations like "H bar L, " H-L, were 
frequent, and frying pans, two-buckles, pitchforks, buck- 
heads, hash knives, and other insignia gave their names to 
large ranches. The age of heraldry reappeared in the West. 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 181 

Even more curious were such brands as the ^"quien sabe" 
of Henry Halff of Midland, the ^ old woman of the Dublins, 
the top hat ^ of H. C. McKay of Bandera, the coffeepot HPO 
of C. H. Noonan of Castroville. The XIT of the Capitol 
Syndicate, the flying W of the King Ranch, the lazy S of 
C. C. Slaughter, the 6666 of S. R. Burnett, the LIT and 
LED of G. W. Littlefield are a few of the most famous 
Texas brands. The Yellowhouse, McCutcheon, Bennett, 
Cocoanut, Spur, IMatador, and other big ranches were each 
as big as Rhode Island, and several so remain. Altering 
brands was one of the methods of the cattle thief, but was 
never practised extensively with success. Nor has any 
branding "fluid" ever replaced the hot iron as a branding 
instrument. 

No such variety in earmarks was possible as in brands. 
There were the swallow fork 0<3C, the half crop 0^» the 
crop O^j the under-bit O^, the over-bit &0» the 
under-slope OQ'? and the grub 0*0 (^ suspicious affair 
that removed all traces of any possible previous marks). 
The average cowman remembered an astonishing number 
of brands and earmarks, rattling off such combinations as 
"seven-diamond L with crop the right and swallow fork the 
left" ^^^Lfe^OC with the greatest ease. 

Such were free-grass days. So attractive were they that 
many rushed in to profit by them. Northerners, Easterners, 
and even Englishmen flocked into the cow business. Cattle 
boomed and were sold in the early eighties at the previously 
unheard of prices of $20 and $25 per head, "range delivery." 
Sheep also went up, from $2 to $5 and $6. Enthusiasts 
proved to their own satisfaction that cattle were bound to 



182 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

go even higher. A few wise old cowmen sold at top prices, 
and a few of the oldtimers and a few of the newcomers 
began to look into the matter of securing a real right to the 
land upon which the cattle must be fed. 

Free grass came to an end ; its death was nearly ^s sudden 
as that desired by Csesar. By 1885 much of the country 
was overstocked, and the "great die" of 1886 was the nat- 
ural result. Nor could the damage done by overstocking 
be remedied at once, since years would be required to re- 
store the grasses, not merely exhausted but destroyed. 
The stock-carrying capacity of the Texas ranges was reduced 
and continued to be further reduced until very recent 
years. It will be a long time before a careful management 
of the natural grasses will restore them to their primitive 
luxuriance and usefulness. 

The big die was naturally followed by other dies; droughts 
and hard winters seemed to come in rapid succession; the 
panic of 1893 brought down the price of everything; the 
golden age of free grass was dead. Cattle had been every- 
thing, land nothing; now land was to assume its inevitable 
place as the primary element in cattle production. What 
would have happened had it not been possible to fence the 
land is an interesting question. Perhaps starvation would 
have followed starvation, perhaps some cooperative or 
governmental modus vivendi would have been put into 
successful operation. The coming of the barb wire, which 
was cheap and required few fence posts, revolutionized and 
saved the cow business. It is said that John W. Gates 
first "demonstrated" barb wire in Texas on the Alamo 
Plaza in San Antonio in 1875. The cowmen who came to 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 185 

laugh at the new-fangled wire fence remained until they 
could purchase miles of wire. Private control of land be- 
came possible and brought with it some interest in the 
preservation of the grasses; it was no longer a question 
merely of "beating the other fellow to the grass" and "get- 
ting the grass while it lasted." Even now cowmen do not 
take as much interest as they should in the improvement of 
their pastures, nor realize the value of the paradox "to 
graze more, we must graze less." In old days everything 
was entirely against conservation of the wild grasses. Now 
it is certain that the ranges will be at least reasonably pro- 
tected. 

Range cattle seem to have been most numerous about 
1890. For a time the number of cattle was the result of a 
combat between starvation and fecundity. Deaths from 
slow starvation occurred mostly in March just as the new 
grass was coming. Usually the poor weakened animals 
bogged near waterholes and there died miserably. It was 
not legal for the mere passerby to put the poor creature 
out of its pain. The sight of a hundred dying cows, half 
side deep in cold river sand, was a pitiable one. ^Vhen 
pulled out by a "bog-rider" the cow often died, being too 
weak to seek the little feed that was to be found. Even 
after the building of fences there was some dying, the cattle 
drifting to the south sides of the pastures and there perish- 
ing. The bones of the slaughtered buffaloes and starved 
cattle were so thickly scattered that during the hard times 
of the early nineties "bone pickers" gathered them from the 
prairies and sold them at railroad points at $8 a ton for 
fertilizer. 



184 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Many men were ruined in the transition from free grass 
to private control. Despite the difficulty of getting fence 
posts, which were often hauled by oxen two hundred miles, 
the country was rapidly fenced. Some stockmen bought 
land, some leased, some fenced land to which they had no 
legal claim, some moved farther out. When a wire fence 
was built right across a prairie that a man had been regard- 
ing as his own, he naturally objected, especially if the man 
who was doing the fencing had no better right than he to the 
land being fenced. Hence arose the "fence-cutters' war," 
which suddenly increased to such a proportion that the 
legislature in special session in 1884 made it a penitentiary 
offense to cut a wire fence, but required that a fence should 
have a gate for a public road at least every three miles. 
The struggle was a short one, the open ranges disappeared 
rapidly, private control was established. The cow busi- 
ness entered into its present phase. 

Five-sixths of Texas consisting to-day of unimproved 
land, the raising of live stock upon the natural grasses is 
still an extensive industry. Cattle are produced throughout 
Texas in large numbers, and their distribution over the 
state is astonishingly uniform and not concentrated in west 
Texas as much as is commonly supposed. In general, the 
advancing farmer has increased the price of land beyond 
its grazing value, but the land is there, unplowed, and must 
be grazed. In west Texas the cowman regards the semi- 
arid condition as somewhat his friend in that it keeps the 
farmer away from his pastures. In the rest of Texas, where 
farming is common, the farmer does not raise as many 
cattle, pigs, and other domestic animals as he should. This 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 185 

is the great crying evil of Texas farming to-day and fully 
accounts for the poor showing made by the state in live- 
stock statistics. Perhaps, on the other hand, the cowman 
does not raise as much feed as he should. There is too great 
a division between farming and stock raising, but time is 
curing this and, let us hope, will continue to cure it until 
Texas approximates Iowa in farming and stock raising 
efficiency. Meanwhile, let us take some comfort from the 
fact that Texas still has as many cattle as Canada or Mexico 
or Italy or England and Wales or South Africa. She has 
half as many as Australia, one-third as many as Germany, 
and one-tenth as many as the whole United States. All 
this in spite of the fact that range cattle have pretty steadily 
decreased during the past twenty -five years, in which period 
milch cows, subject to different influences, have slowly in- 
creased. Elsewhere, as in Texas, the high prices of land, 
the neglect of cattle by the farmers, the excessive slaughter 
induced first by low prices which forced cowmen to ship 
their heifers in order to pay their debts, have reduced the 
number of cattle until a beef famine is threatened. Now 
tempting high prices are tending to deplete the supply of 
cattle. At old beef-eating rates, the United States needs 
fourteen million cattle a year, and is producing only twelve 
million. Clearly, whether we want to or not, we must soon 
follow the advice of those doctors who tell us to eat less 
meat. 

If the number of cattle has decreased, their quality and 
their price have certainly increased. The Longhorns of 
Texas were probably the mongrel descendants of Spanish 
cattle which had wandered from old Mexico into Texas and 



186 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

of American cattle brought from the older states. In the 
first efforts to breed up the low-grade range cattle, Durham 
or Shorthorn bulls were used, but the Shorthorn did not 
prove to be a good "rustler." Then came the bald-faced 
Herefords, brought first to Texas in 1877 by W. S. Ikard of 
Henrietta, as the successful result of many trials with va- 
rious breeds. The Hereford proved to be a good rustler 
and so prepotent in breeding that his calves showed white 
faces when bred from cows of the lowest grade. Maturing 
at an early age, the Herefords and their hybrids thus pos- 
sessed the most desirable qualities, and to-day they prevail 
almost exclusively on the western ranges. 

Living in fenced pastures, each animal worth many 
dollars, cattle are now much better cared for and some of 
the horrors of the olden time seem to be very far away. A 
ton of cotton-seed cake costing less than the value of one 
cow will save a dozen from starvation in a hard winter. It 
now costs "real" money to keep a cow for a year, but she 
and her calf richly repay the cost. In the cactus country 
they singe the "stickers" from the leaves of the juicy prickly 
pear, thereby producing a good cattle food and getting rid 
of the cactus at the same time. During northers the cattle 
are watched carefully and prevented from drifting against 
the southern fences in the pastures. Dehorning prevails, 
and after branding, earmarking, and castration the animals 
are carefully watched until healed. Everything is pretty 
well managed and on a sound business basis. Farm con- 
ditions are invading the ranges. 

Something of the old days remain, but there are important 
differences. The Longhorn is nearly extinct, fine specimens 



TEXAS CATTLE IN FREE-GRASS DAYS 187 

of his horns selUng for a thousand dollars. The Spanish 
pony, the bucking bronco, is becoming rarer and rarer. 
No cowboy now dashes to alarm and rope a peaceful white- 
faced Hereford. No one shoots a hole in the coffeepot be- 
cause of the chicory in it. 

"The Spanish bull that used to water at the seep spring 
at the foot of the hill no longer makes the cafion roar with 
the echoes of his bellowings. A dinner of calf-ribs, sour- 
dough bread, navy beans, and bitter coffee is still common, 
but the cowboy no longer carries a letter from 'Mary' in a 
pocket where he can read it every day, because he can now 
telephone Mary from every ranch." Still left, but in di- 
minished numbers, are as skilful riders and ropers as there 
were, but the cutting horse is occasionally to be found 
playing polo. Bronco-busting is not what it was, and 
roping cougars has gone out of fashion. The broad Stetson 
hat which assaulted the Mexican sombrero is now being 
threatened by the Fedora and the Panama. Branding is 
now done in small pens provided with "squeeze chutes," 
and round-ups are greatly diminished. A majority of 
Texas boys know but little of trying to "head a calf" as it 
dashes down a thorny hillside or of throwing a big bull with 
a little pony. Here and there one still finds some splendid 
specimens of the old-time cowman. The noble race is not 
extinct nor have its campfires yet gone entirely out. 

Prosaic Texas, where the milkman prevails with over a 
million milch cows producing annually more than two 
millions of gallons of milk and a hundred millions of pounds 
of butter! Within her borders at Falfurrias, owned by Ed 
Lasater, is the largest herd of Jersey milkers in the world, 



188 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

and at Midland, owned by the Scharbauers, the largest herd 
of pure-bred Herefords. Beef cattle are now driven short 
distances to the railroads and sent to the Fort Worth pack- 
eries, while milk cans are a frequent feature of the landscape. 
*'Beef barons" contemptuous of dairies are now uncommon. 
Yet learned Easterners minutely versed in the geography 
of Herzogovina still think that a Texan, when lonesome, 
shoulders his gun and goes out to kill a couple of Indians 
for amusement. In fact, the average Easterner doesn't 
know the difference between a jingle-bob and a jug-handle 
dewlap ! 



CHAPTER VI 

FROM HORSES TO BEES 

"Raise horses, mules, sheep, hogs, and cattle, 
For it takes all of these to win life's battle." 

— J. C. Hestand. 

FARMING in Texas does not involve the raising of 
as much Uve stock as it should, despite the fact that 
the mild winters would seem to give the Southern 
farmer a great advantage over Northern competitors. Not- 
withstanding this comparative neglect which, along with 
other causes, has led to a general reduction in the number of 
domestic animals, there are still left in Texas two million 
horses and mules (five horses to every three mules), two 
million sheep, nearly a million goats, three million hogs, 
twenty millions of poultry, and a quarter of a million colo- 
nies of bees, in addition to six million cattle. Assuming 
that it requires three times as much to feed a cow or a horse 
or a mule as a sheep or a goat or a hog, we find that the 
amount necessary to feed ten million cattle is required to 
support all the live stock. Since the area of the state is 
165,000,000 acres, there is, according to this calculation, 
more than sixteen acres to each cow, horse, and mule, and 
five acres to each hog, sheep, and goat. Making all dis- 
count for desert and other unproductive areas, but taking 
due account of the reasonable possibilities of the situation, 
it seems plain that Texas can raise from two to three times 

189 



190 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

the range live stock that she is raising now. Sixteen acres 
of range pasture to a cow is about the allowance in the more 
arid regions, no help being obtained from cultivated crops; 
eight or ten acres are more nearly the average. If the 
ranges be more carefully grazed, if in addition more feed for 
stock be raised on the farms, Texas could easily maintain 
four times as many live stock as at present. 

The raising of more live stock is the most golden oppor- 
tunity now being neglected throughout the entire South. 
Stock utilizes waste spaces, fertilizes the soil, furnishes im- 
mediate food, and when offered for sale does not give rise to 
such transportation or marketing difficulties as does the 
selling of crops. In particular, increased attention should 
be paid to pigs and poultry, both for home consumption and 
for market. Undoubtedly the coming of the silo, whose 
contents are for live stock what canned goods are for man, 
will do much ultimately to increase live-stock production. 
Fortunately so many have been built during the last five 
years that Texas has been called "the land of ten thousand 
silos." Singularly enough, the very high prices of meat 
discourage production by encouraging the sale and slaughter 
of cattle and hogs to such an extent that the supply is being 
exhausted: there is a constant temptation to sell the goose 
that lays the golden eggs. 

The raising of high-grade animals of all kinds has now 
been practised for so many years with such clear success as 
definitely to prove the Texas climate entirely suitable to 
most of the finest breeds. In competitions with those of 
other states the Texas animals carry off at least their share 
of blue ribbons. At the great Dallas State Fair one sees as 



FROM HORSES TO BEES 191 

fine stock as may be seen anywhere. It is with stock as it 
is with a number of other things : Texas is producing as good 
as there is in large amounts, but not in amounts commen- 
surate with her duty or her opportunity. The grading-up 
process has not yet been carried far enough. The value of 
Texas stock per head is yet comparatively low. One finds 
too few pure-bred Angoras, Merinos, and Clydesdales in 
comparison with ordinary low-grade goats, sheep, and 
horses. Grading up, while steadily proceeding, has been a 
little handicapped by the fact that the highly developed 
breeds raised under very artificial conditions do not succeed 
quite as well as could be desired under what are more natu- 
ral or open-range conditions. The problem has been to 
find high-grade stock that could be raised with the minimum 
of attention. The knowledge gained through many trials 
is now successfully solving the problem. The grading-up 
process is in full swing. 

Millions of years ago thousands of primitive horses of 
many different species roamed over the Western prairies in 
company with camels ten feet high, elephants, and many 
other animals which formed an extensive and varied circus 
long before there were any small boys to look at it. To 
show how numerous horses were in very ancient days, suf- 
fice it to state that in Mt. Blanco, in Crosby County, the 
skeletons of six horses were found in an excavation no larger 
in area than an average house. Thousands of years before 
the white man came all of these horses had become abso- 
lutely extinct through causes that the geologist has tried 
so far in vain to determine. When the Europeans, a short 
four centuries back, began to find their way over the Amer- 



192 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

icas, they found therefore no Hving horses, because there 
were none to find. At the sight of Cortez with his cavalry, 
on his wonderful journey from Vera Cruz to the Valley of 
Mexico, the poor Mexicans at first thought that real cen- 
taurs were upon them, that the rider and his horse were one 
and the same terrible beast. In 1545, when Coronado 
came into New Mexico and the Texas Panhandle, he found 
the Indians using dogs as beasts of burden. Early in the 
eighteenth century horses were still unknown to these 
Indians. But the various Spanish expeditions lost horses 
on the prairies from time to time, and from these lost ones 
undoubtedly came the wild mustangs of song and story. 
Says Will C. Barnes in "Western Grazing Grounds": 

"There has been a great deal of romantic nonsense in- 
dulged in over the mustang. The facts are that the true 
mustang was a small-boned, undersized pony, generally of 
an 'off' color, mean of temper, and narrow between the eyes. 
Nor is there anything to prove that because he came over 
with the Conquistadores, he was of royal Arabian descent. 
The Spanish people have never been noted for horses of 
very good blood. 'Mustanging' was like trout fishing: 
it is always the big ones that get away. When you did 
get a bunch of them into a corral, you found they did not 
look half as large and handsome as when they were first 
sighted on the prairie." 

Let us, however, not longer speak ill of the dead. The 
mustang is gone, the Spanish pony is becoming rare, and 
even the cow pony is decreasing in number. The bucking 
horse is as scarce as those who know how to ride him. The 
Texas horse has become very like the horses "back East." 



FROM HORSES TO BEES 193 

Scarcely worth breeding twenty years ago, now threatened 
by the motor car and drafted into foreign wars, horses have 
increased in number in Texas hardly at all since 1890. Then 
there were two people to one horse, now there are four. If 
everybody were on horseback now, the horses would soon 
be swaybacked. 

In contrast to a nearly fixed number of horses, mules 
have quadrupled since 1890, and Texas now has twice as 
many as Missouri, popularly supposed to be the chief home 
of the long-eared but sagacious "donk." At present it 
seems that in 1920 Texas will have about a million each of 
horses and mules. The Texas mules are increasing in value 
as well as in number. Formerly mules were extensively 
imported, but they are now being raised at home. Like 
the horse, the mule is scattered all over Texas almost in 
proportion to the human population. The burro, little 
brother to the mule, consorts chiefly with the Mexicans, but 
is much less numerous. Formerly, when a burro sold for 
two or three dollars and when feed did not cost so much, a 
large family of children could derive great and inexpensive 
delight from climbing all over it and beating it around town 
at the rate of a mile an hour. Neither climbing nor beat- 
ing disturbed at all the philosophic calm of the patient ass 
who nibbled grass whenever the beating lagged. 

Why is it, let us ask the modern students of animal be- 
havior — why is it that a mule so often objects to being 
bridled, while a horse does not? And why is it when a team 
of mules runs away, the mules are rarely injured? Whereas 
horses under similar circumstances nearly always smash 
the wagon and damage themselves. Further, why does 



194 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

the mule possess the virtues of both ancestors — the sobriety, 
patience, endurance, and sure-footedness of the ass, the 
vigof , strength, and courage of the horse — while the mulatto 
is said to possess the vices of both the white and the black 
races? 

The average value of the Texas mule is $100, two dollars 
more than that of the mule which has made Missouri so 
undeservedly famous, but, alas ! $69 below the average value 
of the New Jersey mule, which must become so valuable by 
feeding upon the rich drippings of the corporations which 
there prevail. Like the goat, the mule flourishes even in 
rough mountain pastures. His great sagacity is proved by 
his abundance in Texas and his rarity in New England: 
long ears are no proof of folly, even in a jackass rabbit. 

"The sheep," says an eloquent writer in Industrial Texas^ 
*'is the greatest politician among all animals. He has en- 
tered every campaign — and his fleece has often been the 
paramount issue." Great politician as he is, the sheep 
has slumped in Texas nearly as badly as the old-time 
Populists or new-time Bull Moosers. Twenty-five years 
ago, when the number was a maximum, Texas, with four 
million, had 10 per cent, of all the sheep in the United 
States; now she has only 4 per cent. The two million sheep 
that are left, however, make a fair-sized flock, which is 
scattered from the Big Bend of the Rio Grande northeasterly 
to Bosque County, and even farther. This flock is worth 
from six to eight million dollars, and yields annually about 
ten million pounds of pretty high-grade wool. Some of the 
wool is of very high grade. 

The raising of sheep has been a rather specialized industry, 



FROM HORSES TO BEES 195 

only one ranch or farm in sixty possessing any sheep. Val 
Verde, with 100,000, is the leading sheep county, while 
San x\ngelo is the greatest wool market, handling nearly 
half of the clip. Enormous individual sales to Boston wool 
men are made at San Angelo, at Kerrville, and at San An- 
tonio. But little attention is paid to mutton, for which, 
however, there is a good demand, emphasis being placed 
almost exclusively on wool. In breeding up the range 
sheep, rams of the wool-producing breeds have been mostly 
sought. The Merino is the foundation of the Western 
graded sheep, but Shropshires, Rambouillets, Lincolns, and 
the curly fleeced Karakule from Asia, along with many 
others, are being used to grade up. INIr. Alex. Albright of 
Dundee thinks that his "Karalinc," a combination of the 
two last-mentioned breeds, is going to be hardy and produce 
both wool and mutton well. 

The heaviest clip in Texas was over eighteen million 
pounds in 1889. The reduction of the tariff on wool caused 
the annual clip to drop immediately to less than half of this 
maximum, but the clip was not much increased when the 
tariff was restored. Texas is overwhelmingly Democratic, 
but most of the Democrats do not live in the sheep country. 
^^hen they do they are not very enthusiastic about taking 
the tariff off of wool, especially if they are running for oflSce 
or raising sheep or goats. 

Texas has "got" the rest of the United States in the 
matter of goats. She has a third of all the goats in the coun- 
try and produces over half of all the mohair. On account 
of the climate the shearing is done every six months, and a 
well-bred goat will grow a little over an inch of hair a month. 



196 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

The Texas moliair is of excellent quality and most of it 
goes to the San Antonio and San Angelo markets. A Texas 
Angora at one clip produced eighteen pounds that sold for 
$115. The Angora, now the predominant strain in Texas 
goats, was introduced into Texas by William Landrum, and 
"has found among the hills of Texas, which have heretofore 
been considered waste lands, a natural home, food to his 
taste, and a climate adapted to his happiness." There is a 
lot of unused goat country, especially in the Edwards Pla- 
teau, and the number of goats, both low and high grade, is 
increasing raj^idly. A billy goat cannot live exclusively on 
tin cans, but he can do very well on an occasional newspaper 
and a lot of shinnery. He doesn't care whether his news- 
paper is to-day's or last week's. 

The gradual passing of the range hog is a sort of calamity. 
"Once the razorback roamed the woods as wild as a deer 
and as fierce as a wildcat." He furnished as good sport and 
better meat than the dwindling javalinas, the peccaries, or 
wild hogs of southwest Texas. He was swift and alert, 
but he didn't put on fat like the square-cornered Berk- 
shire, Poland China, and other standard pigs of to-day. A 
bunch of razorbacks surprised while in a mudhole usually 
departed with a noise that could alarm the dead. Some- 
times on his tail there accumulated two or three pounds of 
mud, which, beaten into a spindle shape by the impact of 
his legs and hardened by the summer sun, formed a sort of 
pendent jewel that may have been decorative, but which 
must have been inconvenient. 

The coming of the farmer was even more fatal to the 
range pig than to the range cow. It was easier to vote a 



FROM HORSES TO BEES 197 

"hog-law" that made it illegal to allow pigs to run at large 
than it was to build fences around the fields. "Hog-law" 
elections were frequent and hotly contested in counties and 
precincts. The friends of the range hog were gradually 
outvoted, "hog-laws" spread, and the free pig was more 
and more confined to those pens and hog-proof enclosures 
where we find his obese representatives of to-day. We 
do not find very many of them, however, because there are 
not more than six hogs on the average to a farm in Texas. 
It is some comfort to their owners that they are better bred 
and worth a lot more money than the primitive razorback 
who sought acorns by day and avoided panthers by night. 
Although the number of hogs in Texas is small, too small, 
under three millions, in fact, Captain Charles Schreiner, a 
great cowman of Kerrville, is said to own more hogs, many 
of them on the range, than any other man in the world. 

The poultry business in Texas is claimed to have reached 
mammoth proportions by those who do not realize what a 
small quotient you get when you divide by the number of 
people in Texas. Go to Cuero to see the famous turkey 
trot, where several thousands of turkeys are gathered into 
one drove, and you will come away with the notion that the 
half-million turkeys in Texas would form a mighty big flock 
indeed if gathered together. Several towns ship Christmas 
turkeys by thousands, yet the people of Texas could cat 
every turkey in the state at two meals and have nothing 
left for hash. Next day they could eat all the geese for 
dinner, and the following day could dispose of all the ducks, 
pigeons, guineas, and ostriches (there is an ostrich farm at 
El Paso, and, as AYalter Woehlke says, an ostrich drum- 



198 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

stick undoubtedly contains a vast quantity of nutriment) 
that are reported in the statistics. The chickens, supposed 
to number four or five to each person, would not last for 
a week if Texas doctors were to put the people on a purely 
poultry diet. Eschewing the chickens but eating their eggs, 
one egg for breakfast is all that the average Texan would 
get all day. Of course, there are far more chickens in 
Texas than are reported; assuming that there are twice as 
many, there are still too few to feed the unconverted sinners 
after the good people have eaten all the fried chicken they 
want at the summer camp-meetings. 

The busy bee is not improving each shining hour as much 
as was once the custom. Fifteen years ago Texas was pro- 
ducing annually nearly five million pounds of honey to 
California's four million; five years ago, alas! only three 
million to California's ten million. Nor is the production 
of honey appreciably increased by the finding of bee trees 
in the woods. Trees full of honey still exist, and wood- 
choppers as of yore assault them fiercely to get at the 
honey that has been accumulating in them for years. Along 
the Southern Pacific in the bee country it is said that the 
bees occasionally use the bridges for hives and that you can 
get honey by putting a bucket so as to catch it as it is jarred 
out of bridge posts by the passing trains. The Western 
bee is increasing faster than his Eastern and Texas kinsmen, 
and the Italian bee is displacing the German bee. Less than 
one farm in ten has bees upon it, and a considerable amount 
of honey might be made out of bee brush, mesquite, hui- 
sache, cotton, and the other flowers and blooms that now, 
almost beeless, waste themselves upon the desert air. Sadly 



IP^ROM HORSES TO BEES 199 

decreased as is the sweetness of Texas, enough honey is 
made to supply home consumption and to send a consid- 
erable surplus away. Uvalde has been said to be the 
greatest shipping point for honey in the world: 3,000,000 
pounds in 1903 is the record. But the decline in the pro- 
duction of honey in Texas and the increase in California 
may have robbed Uvalde of her world's championship. 
Quien sabe? Texas should keep enough bees to utilize the 
myriad blossoms on her catclaws and juagillas. It is better 
for her to be stung by her own bees than to be excelled by 
California in honeyed sweetness. 



CHAPTER VII 

TURNING THE WATERS 

"Jim Jones had energy, brains, and grit. 
He plowed when it rained, he plowed when it quit. 
And his beautiful crop was his laudable pride 
Then it withered, wilted, drooped, and died, 
For the hot winds blew when it ceased to rain 
And Jim's noble effort was all in vain. 

He's happy now for he came to the west 
To an irrigable farm that's one of the best. 
He just turns the crank when he wants it to rain : 
When he wants it to quit he turns it again." 
— " The Man with the Plow in the Beautiful Leon Valley," by G. A. Beeman. 

WHEN Coronado journeyed northward in 1540 on 
his vain search for the golden cities of Cibola he 
found irrigated fields along the Rio Grande in 
the neighborhood of the as yet unborn El Paso. An old 
Indian tradition tells us that the Yumas had great irrigation 
works on the Pecos, centuries ago, and that the raids of the 
Apaches and Comanches forced them to move westward to 
the Rio Grande and later to the Great Colorado River in 
Arizona. In support of this story, at Toyah Springs there 
are evidences of very old and primitive irrigation works. 
Doubtless the Pueblos and some of the other western In- 
dians practised irrigation many hundreds of years before 
Columbus meditated on the rotundity of the earth. It was 
therefore following custom for the Spanish padres to em- 
ploy the Indians in building irrigation ditches on their mis- 

200 




Plidli'iiapk by Wliceliis, San Benilo 

Flume, Twenty-six by Eleven Feet, on the Rio Grande 
Tan yiiif; '250,000 gallons ])er niiniite, and supplied by two 00-inch centrifugal pumps 




Fholograph by Whedim 

Reinforced Concrete Flume on ^L\in Canal Near Mercedes 




Pkolofirafli by H7/.v/«s, Sjn Htnilo 

Irrigating Onions at Harlincmox 

One of the Shai.i-o\v Artesian Wells at Lubbock 

Medina luuKiATioN Co. Dam 

Eifjlit-iiiillioii-dollai- syslciii built by Fear.soti of llic I'l-arscn Syndicnte 



TURNING THE WATERS 201 

sions. In 1730, to cite a conspicuous and still-existing 
example, the San Pedro ditch, now surrounded by San An- 
tonio houses, was dug. Numerous other "acequias" were 
dug at the other missions, but, of course, judged by modern 
standards, no very great acreage was watered. 

The early American settlers in Texas, coming by way of 
the well-watered East, did not practise irrigation, and it 
was not till 1869 at Del Rio, after the population had spread 
through the eastern half of the state, that what may be 
called modern irrigation began in Texas. Since 1870 there 
has been a gradual development, accelerated by two rapid 
expansions, one in rice irrigation and the other in the lower 
Rio Grande Valley. The abundance, nearness, and cheap- 
ness of fertile and fairly well-watered land and the absence 
of any United States reclamation activities in Texas (due 
to the fact that the state has owned all the public lands) 
are two important circumstances which have retarded irri- 
gation. All that has been done has been due to private 
initiative. It is only recently that even a Board of Water 
Engineers and a Reclamation Department have been cre- 
ated by the state to help the deserving and to hinder the 
rapacious. 

The only United States reclamation project affecting 
Texas is the enormous Elephant Butte dam in New Mex- 
ico, which will store Rio Grande floodwaters in the largest 
reservoir in the world for distribution later over 100,000 
acres in New Mexico, 25,000 in Old Mexico, and 45,000 in 
Texas. Modern El Paso and ancient Ysleta, two hundred 
years older, will soon be in the midst of gardens producing 
in their favorable climate fruits and vegetables of a most 



202 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

delicious flavor. The El Paso country is said to be the 
only place where the Bartlett pear attains perfection. 

Irrigation projects in Texas fall into three fairly well- 
marked divisions. Into the first should be put those rela- 
tively small enterprises undertaken by private persons or 
small companies which by gravity or windmills or engines 
are taking water from wells, springs, waterholes, lakes, 
small streams, and rivers. Such enterprises are very nu- 
merous and very widely scattered. For example, there are 
nearly a hundred about San Angelo. It is difficult to deter- 
mine their total acreage or crops. They will undoubtedly 
increase in numbers and importance and more and more 
artificial reservoirs, '* tanks," will be built to supply them 
with stored storm water. The "run off" of the streams 
which takes to the Gulf — mostly in huge floods — from one 
to three inches of rain a year is literally a big leak in the 
Texas housekeeping. Water is too valuable to use in mak- 
ing spectacular river floods that benefit nobody but news- 
paper reporters. This leak, however, is popularly supposed 
to be much larger than it really is. The rivers really carry 
away only a small percentage of the total rainfall. 

In addition to these minor but numerous irrigation plants 
there are the big enterprises which attempt to irrigate 
thousands of acres and involve big pumping establishments 
and the buying of water on the part of the individual 
farmers scattered up and down the long irrigation ditches. 
These big projects are divisible into those intended for rice 
and into those intended for other crops. Irrigation on a 
large scale, particularly in the West, has not escaped the 
promoter and land agent, who by their neglect of stream 



TURNING THE WATERS 203 

measurements, their failure to distinguish between average 
and minimum flows, have brought to faihire widely heralded 
enterprises and thereby greatly damaged legitimate and 
sensible developments. The blind leading the blind often 
fall into a very dry irrigation ditch. Sometimes water has 
been expected to run uphill where there wasn't any water 
to run at all. 

In very, very round numbers, perhaps five million acres 
in Texas are irrigable. More or less vague "projects" 
already cover three millions, of which less than a million 
are "under ditch." About 500,000 acres are actually irri- 
gated; about half is in rice and the remainder in "anything 
that grows." Most of the water is supplied from streams 
by pumping. Perhaps 10 per cent, of the water comes from 
wells. Nearly all of the water for rice and almost half of 
that for the other crops is pumped, the total capacity of the 
Texas pumps being about six or seven million gallons per 
minute. 

The big rice areas are on the Sabine near Orange, on the 
Neches near Beaumont, and on the Colorado from Eagle 
Lake down. The first irrigated rice in Texas was grown 
in 1862 by Dr. R. P. Sholars in Jasper County. He put a 
dam across a clear-running stream and thereby made a rice 
field by overflow. He husked his rice on an old grist-mill 
and gave away what he could not eat. Pumping water to 
the rice, a method once nearly peculiar to Texas and Louisi- 
ana, began in 1893. In the Carolinas the tides in the coastal 
rivers are used almost exclusively to bring water to the rice. 

The largest irrigated areas not planted in rice are along the 
Rio Grande above Brownsville and below El Paso, along the 



204 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Pecos at Barstow and Grand Falls, on the Concho near 
San Angelo, on the San Saba at Menardville and San Saba, 
and on the Nueces at Cotulla and Corpus Chris ti. The 
60,000 irrigable acres below the Medina Dam, the cause 
of the beautiful Medina Lake and a holiday spot for San 
Antonio forty miles away, are being put in cultivation. 
Laredo now reeks with the odor of irrigated onions, San 
Benito with cabbages. Just as the Elberta peach, citrus 
fruit, and other booms passed, so has the south Texas truck- 
farm boom passed, leaving many people poorer and wiser. 
Costly mistakes were made, but the period of experimenta- 
tion is passing, and irrigation farming on the lower Rio 
Grande is now settling down to a steady and reasonably 
profitable course. 

The lower Rio Grande irrigation boom was of consider- 
able magnitude. Several of the largest plants in the world 
were built, feeding hundreds of miles of canals and laterals; 
some $15,000,000 was spent in development, and twenty- 
five thousand white people moved in. The Rio Grande 
was not able to supply all the needed water; marketing 
difficulties, frost, and ignorance led to many losses. Irriga- 
tion companies are being taken over by public drainage 
districts at Harlingen and Donna. A solid future exists 
based more on field crops and stock and less on sensational 
truck raising than was the iridescent boom. 

Near Pecos City are two shallow water belts : from Here- 
ford in the southwestern Panhandle southward and east- 
ward to Seminole, Midland, Plainview, and Lubbock lies 
the great shallow well-irrigable region. How much water 
these wells can supply permanently is unknown, but it is 




Typical Longleaf Pine of the Texas-Lolisiaxa REcaox 




Cypress Swamp 
Near Jefferson — Bulletin No. 47 in Bureau of Forestry 

Lo\(; Train at the Deweyville Plant of the Sabine Tram Company 

Courtesy of C. E. Walden 

Transportixc; Lonclkaf Yellow Pine Locs by Water in Southeast Texas 
Courtesy of the Sabine Tram Company 



TURNING THE WATERS 205 

considerable. A good many hundreds of acres are being 
irrigated, and thousands of cattle are being watered from 
these wells. Their permanent possibilities form one of the 
most interesting subjects for speculation in Texas at the 
present time. The "Artesian Belt" is another interesting 
region, south and southwest of San Antonio, to which the 
above remarks also apply. 

The laws relating to irrigation are amusing, irritating, 
incomplete, and imperfect. The code handed down by 
Saxon forefathers didn't cover irrigation; Thomas Jefferson 
and John Marshall were silent on this topic. Even that 
palladium of our liberties, trial by jury, doesn't seem to get 
anywhere, though proper irrigation of a jury has often 
brought peculiar results. Perhaps this explains the origin 
of the slogan, "Rain is a mighty poor substitute for irriga- 
tion." There is no law restricting the sinking of water 
wells. The owner of land is popularly supposed to own 
straight down to a point at the centre of the earth, but a 
neighbor can sink a well nearby and drain the water from 
under land which is not his own, though he cannot remove 
any rocks or coal or dirt. "It seems to have been the in- 
tention of the framers of the irrigation law of 1913 that the 
State Board of Water Engineers should have control over 
the distribution of wells. The Attorney-General has held, 
however, that this does not come within the jurisdiction of 
the Board." An act in 1889 authorized the use of unap- 
propriated running water for irrigation, provided riparian 
owners were not deprived of water for domestic purposes, 
the first user in point of time having the first right to use 
only enough water to irrigate properly the land susceptible 



^06 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

of irrigation by the ditch or canal. This act brought forth 
some remarkable water claims. One man would ask for 
an amount twice that in the river, another for a certain 
number of square feet of water. An apparently comical 
feature of the law provided that a new user of water must 
notify the people upstream, not downstram, of the amount 
of water he is allowed to take. He is reducing the water 
supply of those below him, which does not concern him: 
what he is interested in is that the people above him shall 
not use that to which he is entitled. There is a serious 
aspect to these "first come, first serve" laws, however, to 
which attention is called by the Board of Water Engineers 
which strongly advises against grants of water rights in 
perpetuity. "West of the 96th meridan . . . the 
unconditional ownership of this natural resource, water, can 
be made virtually to enslave the entire population." Ulti- 
mately, in man's slow fashion, irrigation laws will be per- 
fected and a fair and maximum utilization of the water 
secured. 

We turn now from the putting of water on land to the 
keeping it off, or getting it off when it is once on. We 
blow on our hands to warm them, we blow on our soup to 
cool it, we spend money to go, we spend money to come 
back, we build embankments to keep the water both on and 
off land, we dig both irrigating and drainage ditches. Con- 
sistency is not the jewel it has been reported to be. 

The Texas law now authorizes the foundation of either 
levee improvement or drainage districts to impose taxes 
and sell bonds for reclamation purposes. To issue bonds 
requires a two-thirds vote of the landow^ners in the proposed 



TURNING THE WATERS 207 

district. Mr. Arthur Stiles, State Reclamation Engineer, 
estimates the total overflow land at 3,000,000 acres, the 
swamp land at 5,000,000 acres. He also estimates that 
more than 150 miles of levee have been built protecting 
100,000 acres from overflow; that nearly 2,000,000 acres 
of swamp lands are within the drainage districts already 
organized. The overflow lands, of course, lie along the 
lower reaches of the rivers, the swamp lands lie along the 
coast. 

Such lands when reclaimed are so enormously productive 
as amply to repay the cost of reclamation, a huge coopera- 
tive enterprise that must be largely and wisely undertaken. 
The United States Department of Agriculture is now mak- 
ing comprehensive surveys for a complete system of drain- 
age ditches in the coastal swamps; the state is doing the 
same for levees along the lower rivers. Some four or five 
millions of dollars of bonds have been sold, although the 
absence of recent floods has delayed levee building to some 
extent. When there are floods you can't build levees, 
when there are no floods, levees are not needed. A rainy 
day is sure to come, however, and it is a matter of record 
that a million bales of cotton were prevented from maturing 
by a single flood, that a lack of drainage in the coast country 
has seriously checked the development of that region. 

Down in Louisiana, according to George Endress, the 
alligators used to damage the railway embankments by nos- 
ing their way through them in going from one pond to 
another; in Texas it is dry -weather cracks that most en- 
danger the levees. The fact that Texas is a land of con- 
trasts is thus further emphasized : one day a levee is cracked 



208 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

by drought, the next day it is swept away by a flood. In 
a dry year, according to Lon Hill of Harlingen, it requires 
three acres of moisture to rust a nail; in a wet year a square 
inch is ample to tarnish the annual production of the 
United States Steel Corporation. 



CHAPTER VIII 

HARVESTING THE TIMBER 

" These comparisons of values and tonnage are made for the purpose of bring- 
ing before the mmd of the reader the fact that this timber is not going to last 
always." — Hon. Sam. T. Swinford, 1911 ''Texas Almanac." 

THE lumber situation in Texas is decidedly unbibli- 
cal, the harvest is not overly plenteous, and the 
laborers are not few: there are 25,000 persons en- 
gaged in attacking the lumber-producing trees of Texas at 
a rate that will utterly remove them in fifteen years accord- 
ing to the pessimists, in fifty years according to the opti- 
mists. In addition to this horde of lumbermen, hundreds 
of woodchoppers, scattered everywhere, are cutting cord- 
wood and fence posts, and few Texans there be who have 
not wantonly cut down a tree or two that they will have to 
account for in the great day of reckoning. The present 
writer is now ashamed of holding what is probably a world 
record: by cutting down a lone scrub cedar on the south 
bank of the upper Palo Duro Canon he cleared about four 
hundred thousand acres of land in five minutes in 1886. 
Others, however, have destroyed far more trees in clearing 
much less land. 

Says Professor W. L. Bray: "Formerly an unbroken forest 
covered the great plain from Virginia through northern 
Florida to eastern Texas and from the foothills to the sea. 
Although the Coast Plain continues toward the Rio Grande, 

209 



210 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

the further extension of this forest is checked near the 
Brazos River by the drier chmate of the southwest. Here its 
vanguard is broken into stragghng detachments, of which 
only the hardier push onward along the prairie streamways 




Shortleaf pine 
fPinon pine 
1 Mountain oaks and ctdan 

Loblotty pine 
1 Isolated bodies of Loblotty ploo on ttie Colorado Rim 

Longleaf pine forsst 
( Western yellow pine 

(Red fir and other Rocky Uountain species 
I Post oak lands of the Lignitic Belt 
I Eastern "Cross Timbers" 
; Western "Cross Timbers" and post oak of ttw 

Coal Measures 
I Post oak of the Granite area 

Main body of Edwards Plateau timber 
I Scattered bodies of Edwards Plateau type of timber 

on breaks and along stream bottoms 
I Coastal Plain belt of heavy live oak. which Is rapidly 

spreading bn prairie lands 
I Prairie lands with scattered live oak 



Prom Bulletin No. 47, Bureau of Forestry, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Timber of 
Texas, omitting mesquite, chaparral and bottom swamp, and bayou timber 

or up the deeper canons of the hills. It is a striking phe- 
nomenon, this breaking up and gradual dwindling away of 
so vast and vigorous a forest. Like a vast wave that has 
rolled in upon a level beach, the Atlantic forest breaks upon 



HARVESTING THE TIMBER 211 

the dry plains — halting, creeping forward, thinning out, 
and finally disappearing, except where along a river course 
it pushes far inland," "The long-leaf pine area in Texas 
includes about 5,000 square miles of that fine body of Texas- 
Louisiana timber which is unique in its isolation far to the 
southwest of the main long-leaf belt, east of the Mississippi. 
The Texas portion, is shaped like a broad wedge thrust in 
between the loblolly at the south and the short-leaf at the 
north, and extends southwestward to the Trinity River, 
where the overlapping areas of loblolly and short-leaf form 
its western boundary." "Long-leaf pine is characteristi- 
cally found in heavy forest with a practically pure stand. 
This purity of stand, combined with the good quality of the 
timber, makes the long-leaf forest both the most valuable 
and the most easily marketed timber resource of the state. 
The trees make a large and perfect grow^th, yielding logs of 
a maximum diameter of from 36 to 40 inches, with a clear 
length of 60 feet." "The short-leaf pine grows to great 
perfection in east Texas, veteran trees attaining diameters 
of more than 50 inches. The densest forests are of loblolly 
pine, which sometimes produce over 15,000^ feet to the acre. " 
Concerning the amount of timber still left, opinions differ 
widely. According to some estimates, twenty years will 
see the industry down to portable sawmills. Contrariwise, 
it is said that such estimates are made by those who do not 
even know approximately the stumpage of Texas. The 
United States Bureau of Corporations has just published 
an elaborate report on the lumber industry in the United 
States, from which the data that follow are nearly all ex- 
tracted. This report estimates that twenty billions of 



212 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

board feet of long-leaf pine and an equal amount of short- 
leaf and loblolly are still left standing on 5,000 square miles 
of long-leaf lands and 30,000 of short-leaf. This total of 
forty billion feet is being cut at the rate of two billion a year. 
A billion feet of lumber, be it understood, is enough to 
build about 60,000 six-room houses or to furnish cross ties 
for 3,000 miles of railroad. The supply of the more widely 
scattered hard woods is also estimated at twenty billions, 
but only about eighty millions is being cut annually. The 
Texas lumber supply of sixty billion feet, therefore, seems 
to be about equally divided between long-leaf pine, short- 
leaf, and hard woods. In addition, Texas has less than a 
quarter of a billion feet of cypress left. Apparently about 
a third of the hard wood is oak and a fifth gum. More than 
half of the small amount of hard wood cut is oak. Obviously 
pine is the overwhelmingly preponderant Texas lumber, the 
more scattered hard woods not having yet been very se- 
riously attacked in east Texas, where they are most plentiful. 
Elsewhere, being scarce, the hard woods have been cut ex- 
tensively for posts, ties, and firewood. 

Long-leaf, short-leaf, and loblolly all produce a lumber 
very much alike that goes under the common name of 
yellow pine. More than a third of the lumber cut in the 
United States is Southern yellow pine. The dressed lumber 
is used mainly for buildings, the undressed is consumed 
chiefly by the railroads. In Texas the lumber business 
depends for its prosperity very largely upon the railroad 
demand. So far, 1907 is the banner year in lumber pro- 
duction, and owing to the failing supply it may retain the 
banner forever. 



HARVESTING THE TIMBER 213 

The hard woods have been culled pretty generally several 
miles back from the railroads and some have been rafted 
down the rivers, but the great body of hard woods still re- 
main. Its hour has come, however: unless used as lumber 
it will be burned to make way for the plow. 

Some people maintain that the yellow pine has been so 
cut down that only an inferior quality now reaches the 
ordinary consumer. Others say that while many mills will 
doubtless have to go out of business in a few years, there are 
some with a cut of thirty years of virgin pine before them. 
"Just lumbering along, but that's our business," is the way 
one lumber firm describes its operations. Homogeneous as 
is the Southern yellow pine throughout its habitat, never- 
theless when the staff poet of the American Lumberman 
penned: 

"For Georgia loves her tree of trees, 
The brother of the sun and breeze, 
The dear old yellow pine," 

the editor of the Gulf Coast Lumberman at Houston exhibited 
both local pride and poetry when he came back with: 

" Yon ought to see the pine we ship 
This side the dear old Mississip." 

"Dear old yellow pine" is a phrase that may now be used 
in two senses. Pine will soon be so valuable that wood pre- 
servatives will be as generally forced into it as mummifying 
bitumen was once upon a time crammed into the stomachs 
of defunct Egyptian kings. As yet, however, to the dismay 
of conservationists, preservatives are often not used, lum- 
bering is wastefully done, and underbrush fires prevent 



214 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

reforestation by burning up all the young trees and all the 
humus in the soil. Even without fires the long-leaf pine 
is cut so closely that but few trees are left to perpetuate the 
forest. Loblolly reforests much more readily than long- 
leaf. Says Professor Bray: "With the present market 
demand and the prevailing methods of logging, the forest is 
so depleted and left in such a weakened and exposed con- 
dition that no future stand can be counted upon. But there 
is a good deal of long-leaf land on which logging fifteen or 
twenty years ago, when the market demanded culled stock, 
left a very considerable amount of young timber and im- 
perfect or inferior old trees. Such areas, however, are being 
lumbered again for ties. Over 125,000 acres are being cut 
annually in such a way that the land will not grow valuable 
forests again." Texans of the future are going to raise 
their own lumber if they have any. The present generation 
is not going to leave them any if it can help it. When the 
demand or the price of lumber falls off ever so little a wail 
that would awaken the envy of Jeremiah goes up out of 
east Texas, where they want to get the lumber and get it 
quickly. If the woodman spares the tree, he won't get 
rich. As a result, lumber is getting so scarce we are ceasing 
to use it even in conversation : those persons whose occipital 
regions were said to be wooden, when lumber was cheap, 
are now called boneheads. However, lumber can be slowly 
regrown in Texas if we absolutely must have some. A 
better way would be to provide fire protection for both 
trees and lumber, not to mention sinners. 

Texas with her sixty billions of feet of standing timber 
has only a ninth as much as Oregon. California and 



HARVESTING THE TIMBER 215 

Washington each have six times as much as Texas; Idaho 
and Louisiana each have twice as much. Mississippi, 
Arkansas, Florida, Montana, and Alabama, in descending 
order, are in the Texas class. Texas is ninth in the amount 
of standing timber, eleventh in number of lumber workers, 
and fifteenth in value of lumber products. A country 
mostly prairie or mesquite covered cannot be expected to 
take first place in the lumber industry. 

The annual cut of lumber, now nearly stationary, is 
nearly three times what it was twenty-five years ago, and 
almost twice what it was fifteen years ago. Although the 
value of the standing timber, or "stumpage," as it is called, 
has trebled and even quadrupled during this century, the 
retail price of lumber has not increased in anything like 
the same ratio. This is due to the fact that the cost of 
labor and transportation, which have not increased nearly 
so rapidly, enter far more largely into the price of lumber 
than does the stumpage value. 

The production and distribution of lumber demand much 
labor and many freight cars. Nearly a third of the wage- 
earners in Texas manufacturing is engaged in the lumber 
industry, and a fifth of the tonnage of the Texas railroads 
is d^je to lumber and other forest products. The cotton 
crop is six or seven times as valuable as the lumber cut, 
but gives rise to less than half as much tonnage. 

Do not acquire the notion, however, that the value of the 
standing timber is inconsiderable. The Rice Institute 
trustees are reported to have sold, a few years ago, for 
$5,000,000 the timber on a piece of land in Louisiana that 
W. M. Rice, the founder of the Institute bought, land and 



216 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

all, for $60,000 in 1882. Assuming the value of the stand- 
ing yellow pine in Texas at $4 per thousand feet, the total 
value of the "stumpage" comes to $160,000,000. This is 
an increase of about $100,000,000 since 1900, an increase 
that will bring a neat profit, especially to the three largest 
owners, who hold about a third of all the yellow pine in 
Texas. 

The lumber industry in Texas, as elsewhere, is one con- 
centrated ownership, although obviously there can be noth- 
ing in Texas to rival the holdings in the Pacific northwest 
of the Southern Pacific and Weyerhaeuser interests, which 
together control three times as much lumber as there is in 
all Texas. The three largest Texas holdings include 22 
per cent, of the total Texas stand, 55 per cent, of the long- 
leaf stand. Only fifteen holders control 77 per cent, of the 
long-leaf pine and 31 per cent, of the short-leaf. The 
eighty-one largest Texas holdings, each having more than 
60,000,000 feet, embrace 55 per cent, of the total Texas 
stand, 86 per cent, of the long-leaf stand, 72 per cent, of the 
total yellow pine stand. It is evident that the ownership 
of the standing yellow pine is very much concentrated. 
On the other hand, the more scattered hard woods are 
controlled by many owners, the eighty-one largest Texas 
holdings including only 20 per cent, of the hard woods of the 
state. Concentration, therefore, is greatest in the case of 
the most valuable species. Concentration of the ownership 
of the standing timber is naturally associated with concen- 
tration in the manufacture of lumber. One-twelfth of the 
lumber concerns employ about two-thirds of the workers 
in lumber. Grants of public lands to the railroads were not 



HARVESTING THE TIMBER 217 

.he cause of lumber concentration in Texas, as they were 
in the Pacific northwest. Texas gave a great deal of land 
to her railroads; most of it is prairie land and some is so 
treeless that a whole colony of birds is forced to nest in 
each lonesome bush. In the lumber business natural con- 
ditions do not favor the small producers as far as owning 
timber, logging, and running sawmills are concerned. Of 
course, there are a number of small planing-mills and other 
woodworking manufacturing establishments variously scat- 
tered. The big fellows are running one part of the lumber 
industry, the little fellows the other; the big fellows are the 
wood producers, the little fellows are the woodworkers. 

Although the figures relating to the lumber industry are 
included in the chapter devoted to Texas manufacturing, 
it is not out of place to end here with this statement : There 
are in Texas more than 800 establishments working at one 
or more details of lumber manufacture: half of these con- 
cerns are saw-mills; the capital invested is about $40,000,000; 
the value of the annual product is nearly $40,000,000; 25,000 
people are employed; in addition, in the mechanical indus- 
tries, there are 25,000 carpenters. Add in the Mexican 
cordwood and fence-post men, the charcoal burners, the 
youthful Washingtons with their little hatchets, and you'll 
find that a number of people besides politicians are sawing 
wood in Texas, most of them for more than eight hours per 
day. 



CHAPTER IX 

MINING 

"Prior to January, 1901, when the Lucas gusher was brought in at Spindle 
Top, the wildest 'wildcat' that ever roamed the forest could not have foreseen 
that in four years the production of oil in Texas would rise to 28,000,000 barrels. 

"Are there other surprises awaiting us? I do not know. If any man knows 
let him hie hence forthwith and secure his options. The old prophets are dead, 
and there are few, if any, lineal descendants." — "Mineral Resources of Texas," 
by W. B. Phillips. 

IN DEFAULT of prophecies, guesses are allowable, but 
to change a guess into a certainty, Professor Drill 
has to be employed, and it costs a lot of money to send 
him down to look around. The money is being spent. 
In oil prospecting and development only there are more 
than a thousand holes being put down each year, mostly 
in proven territory. A good many of them, however, are 
"long shot, wildcat" wells dug in various places with hope 
alone as a guide, and, of course, are mostly failures. Those 
who attempt new things help by failure to pay the cost 
of progress. In mining the lure is strong; prospecting 
and development are going on in many places, and the 
annual mineral production in Texas is rapidly nearing 
$50,000,000. 

As yet, however, the mineral resources of Texas have been 
merely scratched. The total value of the recorded output 
of all the mines since the beginning of operations is not much 
in excess of $300,000,000. Petroleum is responsible for 
more than $100,000,000, clay products for $50,000,000, coal 

218 



MINING 219 

and lignite for more than $40,000,000, the precious metals 
for $10,000,000, miscellaneous products for $100,000,000. 
^^Tiat is this paltry $300,000,000— scarcely half of the value 
of the farm products for one year — compared with the total 
value of the minerals that still lie under the ground? Mr. 
M. R. Campbell of the United States Geological Survey 
has estimated the supply of bituminous coal at eight billions 
of tons, the supply of lignite at twenty-three billions of 
tons. At current prices, on cars at the mines, this coal and 
lignite is worth about forty billion dollars, six times the pres- 
ent total wealth of Texas. At the present rate of mining, 
this supply will last for more than 5,000 years. If to the 
coal and lignite we add the large but unknown value of the 
other minerals, the total will run still higher into the bil- 
lions. Texas is rich enough, actually and potentially, to 
attract the cupidity of high finance. Beware, however, 
of unwittingly investing in a mining venture, unless you 
would be a "shining mark for a mining shark." Remember 
that a miae is a hole in the ground owned by a liar. Let us 
return, therefore, from potentialities to actualities, from 
billions to millions, from warm imaginings to cold facts. 

Although the increasing industrialism of Texas is having 
a marked effect on mining development, the state is still 
far down in the list of mining states. Even the spectacular 
oil boom of the Gulf Coast in 1901 has since been eclipsed 
by the much greater Oklahoma and the still greater Cali- 
fornia booms. Texas is now fourth in the production of 
oil and second in the production of quicksilver, all of which 
comes from Terlingua, ninety miles from the railroad in 
the southern part of Brewster County, in the Big Bend of 



220 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

the Rio Grande. During the last fifteen years, since quick- 
silver mining began at Terlingua, about 4,000,000 pounds 
have been refined from its native cinnabar. 

In mining, as in other aspects of human life, the prosaic 
in the long run prevails over the exciting. Working with 
clay, coal, cement, lignite, limestone, salt, granite, pig iron, 
sand, gravel, lime, sandstone, gypsum, and iron ore seems 
to be quite unromantic; while hunting and finding oil, 
precious stones, gold and silvef appeal to the most lethargic. 
Yet the production of the prosaic materials is almost twice 
as valuable as that of the exciting minerals. It is the old 
case of the hare and the tortoise. 

Petroleum, however, has produced more money and more 
excitement than any other one substance ever extracted 
from the Texas earth. Oil "seeps" at various places which 
seem to have been known from very early times. Dr. J. 
A. Veatch, a competent observer and then the owner of the 
land on and about Spindle Top, in a letter dated 1835 stated 
positively that oil was under his land. Hundreds of others, 
enthusiastic but uninformed, have made similar claims and 
have erred in making them. Dr. Veatch happened to be right. 

The first definite utilization of Texas oil may be attrib- 
uted to Emory Starr and Peyton F. Edwards, who, about 
1867, dug one afternoon some shallow holes on the margin 
of Oil Spring Branch about fifteen miles southeast of Nacog- 
doches. The next morning they skimmed off the oil and 
carried it to town, where it was used to oil harness and 
grease wagons. Later, before 1890, over a hundred shallow 
wells were dug in this region, and for a number of years a 
small but unknown number of barrels of oil was produced. 



MINING 221 

The second oil strike was made in 1879 at Green vine, in 
Washington County, where WilUam Seidell bored the Cer- 
vanke well to 150 feet and struck a strong flow of gas. The 
first appearance of Texas as an oil producer in statistical 
tables was in 1889, when forty -eight barrels came from two 
wells of George DuUnig, seven miles south of San Antonio. 
This oil sold for $5.50 a barrel, a price that makes an inter- 
esting comparison with the 5 cents received during the 
early period of the Spindle Top oil overflow. During the 
period that followed 1889 only a few minor strikes were 
made, until 1894, when oil was struck in Corsicana in bor- 
ing for artesian water. The first oil well was put down in 
1895, striking oil in October and yielding two barrels a 
day. In two or three years everybody in East Corsicana 
had a well, and no lawn was complete without a pump which 
brought up several dollars' worth of oil per day. The pro- 
duction soon ran above 600,000 barrels annually, but has 
since declined. In 1898 Mr. J. S. Cullinan, now famous in 
the oil business, succeeded in financing and building at 
Corsicana a complete refinery, the first in the state. Nearby 
at Powell, in a different stratum, a different kind of oil was 
shortly discovered. So far the total combined production 
of the Corsicana and Powell fields has been above 5,000,000 
barrels. The oil boom struck Beaumont early in 1901, 
before which time Texas had scarcely counted in the oil 
business. Mr. Patillo Higgins, in boring for water on 
Spindle Top Hill near Beaumont, struck several strata of 
sulphur. He succeeded in interesting Col. J. M. Guffy of 
Pittsburg, who sent Mr. A. F. Lucas, an Austrian engineer, 
to supervise the boring of a well. As luck would have it. 



222 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

he bored through the oil without knowing it, but, removing 
the drill to sharpen it, out burst the gas and oil. 

The Lucas gusher, drilled by the Hamill Brothers, startled 
all Texas and beyond. Oil was struck at a depth of a little 
more than 1,100 feet. It gushed to a great height, blowing 
out rocks and sections of four-inch pipe to a height of a 
hundred feet. At first the flow was 250 barrels an hour, but 
rapidly increased to 3,000, at which rate it flowed for ten 
days, until it was choked by caving in. This well broke all 
previous world records. 

The great excitement produced by the Lucas gusher was 
much increased by the coming in of the Beatty gusher in 
March, and was fanned to a frenzy by a number of other 
gushers in rapid succession. 

The boom was on. Beaumont was swamped by enthu- 
siasts: people slept — if they slept — on sidewalks, against 
walls, and in chairs. Porch room even sold at a premium. 
All the accompaniments of a real oil boom were present. 
Land for miles around Spindle Top increased |from $5 to 
$100,000 per acre in three months. Beaumont changed 
from a town to a city, from wood to brick. Derricks were 
soon as thick upon Spindle Top as quills upon the fretful 
porpentine. Southeast Texas was transformed. 

The big oil men and corporations came into the field 
quietly and unobtrusively; the little fellows made a lot of 
noise. Stock in hundreds of oil companies was sold every- 
where, and, as was to be expected, many investors lost and 
a few won. Prospecting, wise and unwise, went on every- 
where. Lands were leased and subdivided until there was 
scarcely room to build a derrick. 



MINING 223 

The production of oil exceeded the means of storing it. 
A great deal was wasted; earthen reservoirs were quickly 
improvised; steel tanks, holding 50,000 barrels each, were 
soon constructed. Sparks and lightning ignited some of 
these; magnificent but expensive fires occurred. From 
Heywood Well No. 2 flowed, according to Mr. H. S. Reavis, 
editor of the Oil Investors' Journal, 8,000 barrels in two 
hours. This well produced 1,400,000 barrels in ten months. 
But the average life of a flowing well is short — only a few 
weeks —with constantly diminishing output. A few months 
suffice to change the proudest gusher into a well that must 
be pumped or abandoned. 

Before 1904 more than 30,000,000 barrels had been taken 
out at Spindle Top; during the last ten years the produc- 
tion has averaged about a million barrels a year, but has 
pretty steadily declined. Glories pass and fade pretty 
quickly in an oil field, but things happen while they last: 
old Spindle Top, from 1,200 wells, has produced oil enough 
to cover its 200 acres twenty -five feet deep. Ought one to 
expect more? 

The Sour Lake field, about twenty-five miles northwest 
of Spindle Top, was the second Texas field to come in abun- 
dantly. Drilling at Sour Lake began in 1893, yet it was 
not till 1903, when the W. B. Sharp well struck oil, that 
real production began. The Gilbert gusher, which came 
in during May, 1903, with nearly 20,000 barrels per day, 
set a host of operators at work. By the end of 1903 there 
were nearly 300 wells and 9,000,000 barrels had been pro- 
duced, just enough to make up for the waning production 
of Spindle Top. Sour Lake fell off pretty rapidly from its 



224 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

maximum, and is now doing only about a million barrels a 
year after having produced all told, about 35,000,000. 

Luck was certainly, for a time, with southeast Texas. 
In 1904, to compensate for the waning Spindle Top and 
Sour Lake, the Batson field produced 11,000,000 barrels of 
oil. Batson is thirteen miles northwest of Sour Lake, and 
the gods smiled upon this field. The Santa Fe railroad had 
just been built through Saratoga, six miles distant; a large 
number of men and much machinery were ready to quit the 
other two old fields. The first producer well, as it hap- 
pened, had been sunk in the very centre of the field, and, 
as a consequence, all the new wells were phenomenally 
successful. Unfortunately the field fell off heavily the very 
next year, 1905, when the Saratoga and Humble fields 
came in with a combined production of 19,000,000 barrels. 
The way a new field was discovered just as the old fields 
waned was very interesting and timely. 

The Humble field, eighteen miles northeast of Houston, 
was a much larger producer than the Saratoga. Together 
with the three older fields and the minor Matagorda and 
Dayton fields, the seven Gulf fields made 1905 a banner oil 
year, with a production of 28,000,000 barrels. Since then 
the Gulf Coast production has steadily declined to less than 
one-fourth of this maximum. Recently deeper borings 
at Humble have greatly increased the output, and similar 
results may be attained later in the other fields. 

The mode of occurrence of the Gulf oil is peculiar and 
interesting. It appears to be stored mostly in porous 
limestone, sometimes in sand, and lies underneath flat-top 
domes of impervious hard limestone that have prevented 



MINING 225 

the oil from long ago rising to the surface and wasting away. 
The arch of the Spindle Top dome seems, for example, to have 
had a rise of some 200 feet, with a span of about 4,000 
feet. These subterranean arched domes often lie under 
surface mounds, underneath which crystalline limestone, 
sulphur, gypsum, and rock salt are often found. Contrary 
to a popular notion, oil sands are just like water sands or 
any other sands, except that they happen to contain oil. 
The porosity of the oil-bearing limestones seems to be some- 
times as great as 50 per cent., and as the oil becomes ex- 
hausted salt water generally flows in. Gas and sulphur are 
very frequently associated with the oil. A few freak wells, 
after producing oil and then salt water, went back to pro- 
ducing oil before the salt water came again finally. 

Wild notions concerning oil are very prevalent among 
those who know nothing of geology. Belief in underground 
lakes or pools of pure oil is general, and some even believe 
in a river of oil flowing from Corsicana to Beaumont. Such 
errors persist in spite of the fact that the Corsicana and 
Beaumont oils are quite different. Numerous vendors of 
bogus oil stocks find it to their interest to perpetuate such 
foolish notions among the ignorant. 

Oil occurs not only on land but also in some formations 
that underlie the sea. Some oil fields probably underlie 
the Gulf, and seem to be leaking up through the bottom. 
Two such leaks are to be found in the Gulf just west of 
Sabine Pass. Other places where waves are stilled and do 
not break on account of oil on the troubled waters are 
known farther out in the Gulf. A peculiar substance 
called sea wax, undoubtedly a petroleum residuum, is fre- 



226 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

quently found along the beach from Sabine Pass to Corpus 
Chris ti. 

The Gulf oils, of which nearly 200,000,000 barrels have 
been taken out in Texas since the days of the Lucas gusher, 
are heavy oils, cojisisting half of excellent lubricating oil 
and half of kerosene and solar, together with some asphalt 
and a little gasoline. Sulphur occurs as an impurity, but 
is not hard to remove. 

As a fuel, the Gulf oils are excellent, three barrels of oil 
being equivalent to a ton of the southwestern bituminous 
coals. The discovery of oil, therefore, accelerated manu- 
facturing and railroading in Texas. The almost over- 
production of the lighter Oldahoma oils is forcing the Gulf 
oils more and more to fuel uses. The navies of the world 
cry out for fuel oil. The Texas railroads are using several 
millions of barrels of fuel oil annually, "oil-burning loco- 
motives, no cinders," being a much-used advertisement of 
the railroads. A Texan, A. M. McAfee, has won both fame 
and fortune by discovering an economical chemical process 
for refining the Gulf oils. 

As the production of Gulf oil fell off the production of 
lighter, higher grade oils in north Texas increased. To the 
Corsicana and Powell fields were added, in 1904, the small 
Petrolia field near Henrietta, in Clay County, the small 
Marion field in 1910, the great Electra field in 1911. Oil 
was first struck at Electra in 1900 while boring for water. 
Several barrels were obtained at 150 feet. A company 
began boring for oil in August, 1909, but nothing startling 
happened until Mr. T. Waggoner, who owned the land, 
put down a deep well that struck oil in profitable quantity. 




Cnpyrighi, igor. by 'I'rost 

Thi: Ukatty Well at Spindlktoi* 
Second of ihe Texas finishers, aiitl a great proihuer. Oil stnuk Mareh '^6, 1901 



MINING 227 

It was not till 1911 that the field became a real producer 
with half a million barrels to its credit. The oil is of very 
high grade. It was Electra that checked the declining 
Texas production, which had reached its twentieth -century 
minimum in 1910, and sent it climbing up again by producing 
much oil in 1912 and more oil in 1913 than all the other 
fields put together. The Electra field, however, did not 
produce as much excitement as Spindle Top. 

Prospecting for oil is now almost universal. The Thrall 
field near Taylor "looks good." The oil from this field 
is so rich in paraffine that the wells choke with it. The loss 
of time and the expense involved in melting out the paraf- 
fine have made this field an expensive one to work. Strawn, 
in the coal country, is producing 1,000 barrels a day. A 
field near San Antonio is developing. It is impossible even 
to mention the hundred new localities where oil has been 
recently found. There are perhaps 1,500 producing wells 
on the Gulf Coast, 1,100 in the Wichita-Clay field, 800 
around Corsicana, 200 variously scattered. Add to these 
oil wells numerous gas wells in Clay, Shackelford, Lime- 
stone, Nueces, and other counties, which afford cheap gas to 
Fort Worth, Dallas, and fifty other towns, and it is plain that 
Texas will soon be as full of holes as Arnold von Winkelreid 
of blessed Swiss memory. The capacity of the Clay County 
gas field has been estimated at 200,000,000 cubic feet per 
day! Of gas and oil, let us say no more. A startling dis- 
covery somewhere may shortly revolutionize the whole 
situation. 

Oil tank fires due to lightning are a source of heavy 
loss to the oil industry. Many such fires occur every 



228 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

year. In 1904 the Texas Company lost 2,000,000 barrels 
at Sour Lake out of an earthen tank. The ignition of gas 
wells, notably the Corpus Christi well, has also caused 
enormous losses. 

The prosaic story of coal and lignite, unlike that of oil, is 
one of slow but constant progress. For the last thirty 
years, with a few small setbacks, the production of coal has 
slowly increased until it is now appreciably over a million 
tons a year. A precisely similar statement applies to lig- 
nite. Although Texas contains 8,000 square miles of work- 
able coal and G0,000 square miles of lignite — nearly as much 
lignite area as all the other states combined — this production 
of coal and lignite is trivial in comparison with the gigantic 
total of nearly 500,000,000 tons of coal for the whole United 
States. 

More than half of the bituminous coal comes from: 
Thurber, in Erath County, the rest from the neighboring 
counties of Eastland, Palo Pinto, Young, and Wise. Sub- 
bituminous coal comes from the Rio Grande counties of 
Webb and Maverick, where the only coal-washing plant in 
the state is to be found. 

Wood County is the chief producer of lignite, which is 
found over a wide area in many counties. The main lig- 
nite belt extends eastward from a line drawn across the 
state through Austin, Waco, and Dallas. The lignite is 
used mainly under stationary boilers, though some is con- 
sumed very advantageously by gas producers to supply gas 
engines. No lignite briquettes are made, though they could 
easily be manufactured with great economy. Says W. B. 
Phillips: "By converting the surplus gas, through gas 



MINING 229 

engines into electric current, a central power plant making 
briquettes cbuld dispose of all the products from the lignite 
gas, tar, light oils, pitch, and sulphate of ammonia. The 
by-products from a ton of lignite costing $1 could be made 
to yield from $3 to $3.50." Central power plants at the 
lignite mines or at dams on the rivers are favorite ideas, 
much exploited in print. For some reason nothing much as 
yet has come of such magnificent projects. They have, 
however, a solid basis, and doubtless will become realities. 

The first real coal mine in Texas seems to have been the 
Hunt mine near Laredo^ on the Rio Grande. It was opened 
in 1880. Earlier than this a little coal for local consumption 
was mined at Bridgeport, in Wise County, at Belknap, in 
Young County, at Crystal Falls, in Stephens County, and 
perhaps at other places. 

No pig iron has been made since 1909, when the state 
penitentiary furnaces shut down, although there is an area 
of some 1,300 miles, chiefly in Cass, Cherokee, and Harrison 
counties, where excellent limonite ore is found. It occurs 
in horizontal "blankets" from two to five feet thick, so near 
to the tops of the flat hills and ridges that there is generally 
less than six feet of earth to remove to get at the ore. This 
iron ore is now ])eing sent tt> Galveston for shipment to the 
East. One cannot resist the feeling that a lot of fine op- 
portunities in mining in Texas are somehow going to waste. 
It is true that Texas produces no coke for reducing ores, 
a diflficulty which like those met in growing citrus fruits 
and in a thousand other enterprises ought not to prove 
insurmountable. Brains, trained brains, and a little greater 
pressure from necessity are needed to produce great results. 



230 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

In very moderate amounts, compared with the United 
States as a whole, salt, lime, gypsum, and mineral waters 
are being produced. Of the clay products, bricks are the 
chief, though sewer pipe, tiles, and pottery are made in small 
quantities. Texas has the finest kaolin in the United States, 
but makes only a little stoneware, red, yellow, and Rocking- 
ham ware. Ellis County, with 100,000,000 annually, is the 
largest producer of brick. 

The Portland cement industry began in 1904 and now 
amounts to more than 2,000,000 barrels annually. More 
and more extensive use is being made of cement in building 
houses and bridges. Even the ubiquitous frame house is 
yielding to the stucco, and there has been a much-needed 
epidemic in the building of sidewalks. 

Beautiful building stones in immense variety and amount 
are to be found, but the demand is small. Various fine 
granites exist in practically unlimited amounts. A superior 
red sandstone is mined at Barstow, and excellent sandstones, 
marbles, and limestones occur variously. The production 
of asphalt as a by-product in oil refining has interfered some- 
what with the use of the natural rock asphalt which occurs 
abundantly at Uvalde, at Montague, and a few other places. 
Nevertheless, Uvalde asphalt was used for paving quite 
recently in several cities. 

Precious stones and metals are few and far between and 
mostly in the Trans-Pecos region. Gold occurs in the 
central Texas granites in small amounts. It is said that a 
dollar a day may be made by industriously panning the 
granite sands, which, strange to say, often float. Seven 
or eight millions of dollars of silver have come from the 




2 O 

'3 s 






pa 



Eh 
& 

a 

S 



MINING 231 

Shafter mine near El Paso. Copper occurs in the Trans- 
Pecos, in the Red Beds country, and in tlie granite region. 
It has been estimated that the Red Beds alone contain 
two billions of dollars of copper. What little has been 
produced has come from Van Horn. Some zinc and lead 
have been taken out of Sierra Blanca, but the whole Trans- 
Pecos may be said to be still awaiting development. 

The newest and perhaps the most interesting enterprise 
in Texas is the mining of sulphur by the Frasch process at 
Bryan Heights, near the mouth of the Brazos. The sulphur 
is under one of the coastal domes at a depth of a thousand 
feet, and is thought to exist in very large quantities. Super- 
heated water to dissolve the sulphur is forced through pipes 
into the deposit. The hot water with the dissolved sulphur 
is then pumped back into open-air bins, where the water 
cools and flows away, leaving a very pure sulphur as a solid 
precipitate in huge blocks the size of the bins. Sulphur is 
mined in this way only at Bryan Jleights and at Sulphur, 
Louisiana. More than a hundred thousand tons are produced 
annually. It may be found under other domes on the coast. 
In addition deposits in Culberson County, in theTrans-Pecos, 
containing 300,000 tons are said to lie at one place within 
forty feet of the surface of the ground. 

It is obvious from what has been said that Texas is fairly 
well but not overabundantly supplied with minerals. It is 
also obvious that many of those that exist pretty abundantly 
are as yet being mined only on a comparatively small scale. 
In certain cases, with the heavy and less valuable minerals, 
this is due largely to the lack of a local demand. In other 
cases it is due to more attractive prospects or to less strin- 



23^ THE BOOK OF TEXAS " 

gent mining laws in other states. If Texas mining laws be 
too stringent, bearing in mind the rapid exploitation and 
exhaustion of our natural resources, we may view with 
some patience a situation that preserves something for fut- 
ure generations even at some cost to the present. 



CHAPTER X 

MANUFACTURING 

'Manufactures, commerce, engineering, the building of cities, every trade car- 
ried on there and the implements of every trade. 

The anvil, tongs, hammer, the axe and wedge, the square, mitre, jointer, 
smoothing-plane ! 

The plumb-bob, trowel, level, the wall-scafford, the work of walls and ceilings, 
or any mason work. 

The steam engine, lever, crank axle, piston shaft air pump, boiler, beam, 
pulley, hinge, flange, band, bolt, throttle, governors, up and down rods." 

— Walt Whitman. 

r ^ ^ EXANS are prone to underestimate rather than to 
exaggerate the amount of manufacturing done in 
their state. "We are a raw, not a finished, prod- 
ucts state"; "We do less than Uttle old Rhode Island," are 
familiar expressions based on the fact that in proportion 
to population Texas manufactures only about a fourth as 
much as the United States. Contrariwise, in the last fifteen 
years the "value added by manufacturing," the difference 
between the value of the products in their raw and finished 
forms, has a little more than trebled; in the United States 
it has merely doubled. In 1900 Texas was doing only one- 
sixth of her proportion of the manufacturing of the United 
States; now she is doing a fourth. It is clear that manu- 
facturing has been increasing by leaps and bounds, rela- 
tively and absolutely. This increase is certain to continue. 
The busy hum of factory and mill in Texas cities is destined 
to deepen in tone rapidly in the near future. ]More than 

233 



^34 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

$300,000,000 is invested in manufacturing, and this amount 
is growing steadily. 

Naturally and properly the major manufacturing in- 
dustries have been based upon those raw materials which 
Texas produces in such immense quantities. The cotton 
has given rise to gins, compresses, and cottonseed oil mills, 
which add about $10,000,000 to the value of the crop. It 
has also occasioned a few cotton mills which add another 
million. Flour, rice, and grist mills depend upon the great 
cereals for their prosperity, adding $6,000,000 or $7,000,000 to 
the value of the wheat, corn, oats, and rice crops, while can- 
ning and preserving add a million to the fruits and vegetables. 
Slaughtering and meat packing add nearly $10,000,000 to 
the value of the live-stock products, lumber mills about 
$30,000,000 to the forest products. The refining of petro- 
leum adds $6,000,000 or $8,000,000 to the value of the 
natural crude oils; the making of bricks, tiles, pottery, 
terra cotta, and other clay products adds $3,000,000 or 
$4,000,000 a year; the making of lime and salt, the cutting 
of marble, granite, and other stones adds another $2,000,000. 
Finally, the repairing of cars and other transportation equip- 
ment in the railway shops gives about $10,000,000 as the 
value annually added by manufacture to the railway rolling 
stock. 

Summarizing and dealing in very approximate figures 
only, we may say that Texas' manufacturing adds $20,000,000 
a year to the value of her cultivated crops, $10,000,000 to her 
Hve-stock products, $30,000,000 to her lumber, $15,000,000 
to her minerals, and $10,000,000 to her railway rolling stock. 
These major industries, which contribute $85,000,000 a year 



MANUFACTURING 235 

to the income of Texas, include about two-thirds of all the 
manufacturing that is done. The remaining one-third is 
parcelled out among a hundred industries, a few of which are 
important enough to deserve separate mention. 

The power of the printing press is so great that it turns 
out a product in excess of $10,000,000, the number of print- 
ing establishments is appreciably over 1,000, slightly more 
than one-fifth of the total number of manufacturing es- 
tablishments. Dallas is second only to Nashville as a 
publication centre in the South. In striking contrast to 
the large number of printing plants are the less than twenty 
breweries whose beer is valued at $6,000,000 above the 
materials of which it is made. Prohibitionists, disturbed 
at so much beer, can take comfort from the fact that no 
distilled spirits are made in Texas. Foundries and machine 
shops add more than $5,000,000 to the materials upon which 
they work. The heat of the Texas summers is reflected 
in a net product of $4,000,000 of ice. No other manufac- 
turing industry, out of an almost endless variety, is at all 
comparable in importance to those already listed. 

Nevertheless, it is interesting to know that Wichita Falls 
is shipping automobile trucks to England; that Fort 
Worth is sending well drills to South Africa and Tasmania; 
that Houston is making artificial legs and chill tonics and 
bust developers and blowpipes; that Austin is canning 
tamales and Red Devil chili powder; that Dallas is mak- 
ing bolsters and mosquito bars and spaghetti; that San 
Antonio is manufacturing magician supplies and surgical 
instruments. 

Exliibit but the slightest willingness to listen to a Houston- 



'236 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

ian and he'll convince you that Houston is adding $25,000,000 
by manufacture to $30,000,000 of raw products by the 
labor of 11,000 workers who are using 50,000 horsepower 
derived from fuel oil and getting $12,000,000 a year for their 
work. If it's a Dallas or San Antonio or Fort Worth man 
that catches you, the figures will be slightly different, but the 
enthusiasm and the degree of truthfulness will be about the 
same. Manufacturing is coming along very rapidly, but 
cannot keep up with exuberant imaginations. 

In general, Texas manufacturing is of a kind that involves 
only simple processes which can be conducted on a large 
scale mainly by machinery. As a consequence, the value 
of the products of the manufacturing plants is about three 
times the "value added by manufacture." In other words, 
the manufacturing processes increase the value of the raw 
materials about 50 per cent. In the packing-houses, the 
cottonseed oil mills, the flour and rice mills, the percentage 
added by manufacturing is quite small; in lumbering and 
in many of the smaller industries it is fairly large. The 
total value of the manufactured products does not fall far 
short of $400,000,000. There are a great many printing 
shops, sawmills, bakeries, flour and grist mills, cottonseed 
oil mills, ice plants, sheet iron and tin establishments, foun- 
dries, machine shops, and creameries. These range in 
number from over 1,000 dowm to 100. All the other manu- 
facturing industries are confined to a comparatively few 
plants. 

Nearl}^ two-thirds of the 6,000 manufacturing establish- 
ments employ less than six wage-earners, less than 1 per 
cent, employ 250 or more. Two large packeries and one 



MANUFACTURING 237 

railway repair shop employ more than 1,000; less than a 
dozen repair shops and lumber mills employ more than 500. 
About a fourth of all the wage-earners are in plants employ- 
ing more than 250 each, another fourth is in plants employ- 
ing from 100 to 250, another fourth in plants employing from 
20 to 100. The total number of wage-earners is not far 
from 100,000, their annual wages not far from $50,000,000. 

About 6 per cent, of the wage-earners are women, nearly 
2 per cent, are under sixteen years of age. The women and 
children are employed mostly in the manufacture of men's 
clothing and cotton goods, in printing and in making con- 
fectionery and other food preparations. The percentage 
of women employed is less than a third, the percentage of 
children somewhat less than the corresponding percentages 
for the United States. 

As should be expected, most of the manufacturing is done 
in the larger cities. Although the towns having populations 
above 10,000 have only a sixth of the people, they do over 
half of the manufacturing; in fact, the eight cities having 
populations in excess of 25,000 do very nearly one-half. 
Dallas and Houston each do a tenth, San Antonio and Fort 
Worth a fifteenth. In the four largest cities, therefore, a 
third of the manufacturing is done. 

Dallas leads Houston somewhat in value of products, in 
value added by manufacture, in number of establishments, 
and in number of persons engaged in manufacturing; while 
Houston is slightly ahead in number of wage-earners and in 
horsepower used. So close together are these industrial 
cities in business, so rapidly are they growing in all direc- 
tions, that their patriotic inhabitants have a fine chance. 



238 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

which they use, to exalt one place at the expense of the 
other. The rival clamor raised by zealous Dallasites and 
Houstonians is further increased by noises coming from Fort 
Worth and San Antonio, towns whose performances and 
prospects afford their equally patriotic inhabitants fine ma- 
terial for boasting. Each of these four cities is ahead of the 
others in several important respects and is not backward in 
pointing it out. The barnyard cackle of the four big roost- 
ers is further increased by smaller Growings coming from 
El Paso, Galveston, Austin, Waco, Beaumont, and the 
rest. 

Dallas manufactures as many leather goods and drugs 
as all the rest of Texas. She manufactures, perhaps, more 
saddlery and harness than any city in the United States, 
and she leads the world in the manufacture of cotton-gin 
machinery. She does twice as much printing and bread- 
making as Houston, her greatest competitor. She holds 
other easy firsts in foundry and machine-shop products and 
in men's clothing. Houston is far ahead in repairing rail- 
road rolling stock, in cottonseed and lumber products. 
Fort Worth has an important first in packeries, slaughtering 
more than all the rest of the state. San Antonio leads in 
beer, producing nearly as much as all the rest of Texas. 

The important manufactures of Dallas are in the meat- 
packing, flour and grist mill, cottonseed, printing, leather 
and machine-shop industries. In Houston it is the cotton- 
seed, meat-packing, rice cleaning, railroad repair shop, and 
breweries that are most important. In San Antonio brew- 
eries, flour mills, and cottonseed oil mills lead in order of 
importance. Packeries and flour mills lead in Fort Worth. 




Courtesy of tlie Bureau oj Economic Geology 

Salt Basin, Guadalfpe Mofxtains ix the Distance, El Paso County 




Conrtcay oj the Bureau of Ec/iiomu Gccic^y 

Pumping Sulphur Out of the Ground at L^eeport, Near the Modth 

oi" THE Brazos 
Blocks of siilplnir ,'50 feet high in the background 



MANUFACTURING 239 

In the smaller cities the leading manufactures follow the 
local raw materials. Thus at Beaumont rice milling leads; 
at Waco, Austin, Temple, and Paris, in the cotton belt, it is 
cottonseed oil production that leads; the railroad repair 
shops lead at such junction points as Cleburne, Denison, 
El Paso, Laredo, Marshall, Palestine, and Tyler. 

Petroleum refining and meat packing are. the two most 
concentrated industries in Texas and each has arisen since 
1900. The discovery of petroleum in southeast Texas made 
one of these possible, the coming of the packeries to the 
cattle made the other. Together they are responsible for 
a substantial part of the gain which Texas has made in 
manufacturing in comparison with the rest of the United 
States. The packeries stimulated the whole live-stock 
business, the discovery of petroleum has had even wider 
consequences, affecting the fuel situation, which is one 
of the most serious with which Texas manufacturing has 
had to contend. Fuel oil is now used for manufacturing 
in Texas about as much as bituminous coal and lignite, 
all other sources of fuel or power being relatively unim- 
portant. Wlien the Ericson or some other solar engine is 
perfected, the Texas sun, rarely obscured by clouds, will 
make the waterfalls of the North ashamed of themselves 
as sources of power. 

The Texas packeries are slaughtering annually about 
100,000 sheep, 300,000 calves, 450,000 hogs, and 600,000 
cattle, and the refineries, fed by 2,000 miles of pipe lines, 
are capable of refining 180,000 barrels of Texas and Okla- 
homa crude oil daily. Fifteen years ago these immense 
concerns were not in existence; now they are the biggest 



240 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

manufactories in Texas, and are big enough to attract at- 
tention anywhere. 

Let us now, after the tragic style, make a sad ending. 
Producing much wool, half of the mohair, and a third of the 
cotton of the United States, Texas manufactures little 
cotton, less wool, and no mohair into cloth. Texas manu- 
facturing has literally obeyed the biblical precept and taken 
no heed of wherewithal the Texans shall be clothed. This, 
as Fritz Lanham of Weatherford would say, is the sad, the 
naked, truth. 



CHAPTER XI 

TRANSPORTATION 

"In early days a caravan of ox wagons moved along at a very leisurely pure, 
depending on tlie grass by the way for tlie support of the teams. Many weeks 
and even months were required to deliver a cargo of cotton or buffalo hides at 
the market and to return witli the sugar and coffee and manufactured goods 
required by the settlers." — C. S. Potts. 

TEXANS regard it as a tribute to the size of their 
state, not a reflection on the speed of their trains, when 
they tell you that "one can travel all day and not get 
out of Texas." The 1 ,014 miles of track between Brownsville 
and Texline, the 935 between Orange and El Paso, the 586 
miles between Laredo and Texarkana, are matters of state 
pride: "You can't ride across Texas on a two-bit ticket." 

It is more than 250 miles from New Orleans to the nearest 
point in Texas, 300 from Memphis, 400 from St. Louis. 
To the Texan, Oklahoma and Arkansas exist mainly as 
bridges over which he may travel "East." Obviously, 
before the building of railways, it was a long, long way to 
Texas, and water transportation played a large part in 
moving both people and freight. There was a choice be- 
tw^een an overland journey of 500 miles through a wilder- 
ness and a long voyage across the Gulf, followed by a shorter 
trip up an uncertain river. 

The harbors on the Gulf and the heads of navigation on 
the rivers naturally became places of importance in the 
early days. The Red River supplied the northeastern part 

241 



242 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

of Texas with an outlet to New Orleans, traffic going by 
water from Jefferson. The Brazos was navigated regularly 
as far as Richmond, occasionally to old Washington, near 
Hempstead; Liberty was the ordinary head of navigation 
in the Trinity, and Houston was located as far up Buffalo 
Bayou as it was possible to take boats, while Victoria marked 
the end of navigation on the Guadalupe. 

Neither the rivers nor the Gulf harbors were much im- 
proved until a few years before the Civil War, when several 
hundred thousand dollars was spent upon them, and inland 
navigation was at its maximum. Even in the halcyon days 
there was much trouble with snags and sandbars. 

From the towns that enjoyed water transportation 
primitive roads scattered in various directions. The Re- 
public of Texas made a few feeble efforts to build roads, 
but the chief thing that was done was to pass a law that 
the stumps in the roads should not be over twelve inches 
high. Stages carried passengers, ox wagons hauled freight. 
When railroads began to be built, their interior terminals 
became centres of radiating overland traffic. By 1860 there 
were thirty stage lines, including one from San Antonio 
to San Diego, California, and one from Sherman to St. 
Louis. Freighting, mainly with ox wagons, became the 
permanent occupation of some and the incidental amuse- 
ment of whole neighborhoods who went to Jefferson or 
Houston with cotton, to come back loaded with other nec- 
essaries. For a long time the fertile Black Prairie country, 
whose dirt roads are so unpassable when wet, was left un- 
developed agriculturally because of the lack of transporta- 
tion. Freight cost 20 cents per mile per ton, just twenty 




gS**^s^=- 





Haclinc! Wool to Kerhvillk 

CiALVKHTON CaUSPIWAY 

Cost over two million dolliirs; partly washed away in llie storm of 191,) 
Oil and Ll'mker Coing Out at Port Arthur 



TRANSPORTATION 243 

times the present average railroad rate. The richest coun- 
ties in early days were those near water routes and the chief 
towns were ports. In 1839 Dr. Anson Jones, afterward 
President of Texas, congratulated the Galvestonians upon 
their large city, which, "like Venice the bride of the Adriatic, 
has arisen as if by enchantment from the waters. . . . 
Your population, which already amounts to near three 
thousand, is rapidly and constantly increasing.*' 

Jefferson, on the Red River, in 1870, had 12,000 people, 
as many as San Antonio, not manj^ less than Galveston, 
and more than Houston. Fort Worth was then unknown, 
and Dallas had 500 people. But the railroads passed Jef- 
ferson by, and in 1880 the population had decreased one- 
half, sinking later to 2,000. It has been only recently 
that Jefferson has begun to repair her shattered fortunes. 
Other towns, prospering as terminals of railroads for a 
long time, have had their growth retarded and even their 
populations reduced by the railroad "going on." A few 
towns have entirely disappeared from the map. INIillican, 
long a prosperous terminus of the Houston & Texas Cen- 
tral Railroad, now contains only a few business houses and 
a blacksmith shop. Somebody ought to write the story of 
the Texas towns that have died or seen better days. There 
is a pathos about these modern Palmyras which often strug- 
gled to resist their fate. Jefferson, for example, actually 
built a narrow gauge west to McKinney in a vain attempt 
to restore her prosperity. 

Loss did not always follow, however, when a railroad 
built on beyond a town that had been its terminal. A 
financial panic that stopped the Texas & Pacific at Fort 



244 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Worth made that place a city. "Pshaw," said the Dalla- 
sites, then about a thousand in number, observing the growth 
of what was to be a rival town, "when the T. & P. goes on 
west, Fort Worth won't even be a whistling station." 
These gibes inspired the rapidly increasing Fort Worthians 
to great efforts. They got another railroad, they built a 
wholesale house or two, they roped and caught everything 
in sight, until, finally, when the T. & P. did go on west. 
Fort Worth didn't miss her lost terminal. 

In 1836 the Republic of Texas chartered a tremendous 
company (on paper) to build railroads, dig canals, and estab- 
lish banking facilities. This hydraheaded "devouring mon- 
ster," as its opponents called it, never came to anything. 
Other companies also did nothing, until some grading was 
done, and some ties were bought in 1840 for the Harrisburg 
& Brazos Railroad. Nothing further came of this until 
1851, when more grading was done. The first rails were 
laid in 1852; the completion of twenty miles was celebrated 
by a barbecue in 1853. The first locomotive to run over 
the track of the first Texas railway, the Buffalo Bayou, 
Brazos & Colorado, was called the "General Sherman." 
It was the second locomotive to raise steam west of the 
Mississippi. 

The second Texas railroad was the Galveston & Red 
River, which was chartered in 1848 and began building in 
1853. It had only two miles of track when the first engine 
was put on in 1856, at which time its name was changed to 
the Houston & Texas Central, the name it still bears. 
From Houston this road extended to Millican, where it 
stopped till 1867. The third railroad was built from Vir- 



TRANSPORTATION 245 

ginia Point to Houston in 1854 and 1855, the bridge across 
Galveston Bay not being finished until 1860. The fourth 
railway was built to connect Houston with the B. B. B. & 
C. The fifth railway was built in 1857 to 1860 across the 
twenty-one miles between Hempstead and Brenham. 

The Texas & New Orleans started in 1858 and had reached 
Orange on the Sabine in 1861. Twenty -five miles on a 
Sabine Pass-Beaumont-Henderson road were graded be- 
tween 1857 and 1861. From Port Lavaca in 1861 a road 
was built twenty-eight miles to Victoria. From Indianola 
a rival line started for Austin, but never got farther than 
fifteen miles from the coast. Even these fifteen miles of 
track were washed away in the 1874 hurricane and were 
never rebuilt. To complete the list of antebellum rail- 
roads mention may be made of the two that started west 
from Texarkana and Marshall, one in 1857, the other in 
1856. 

Before the Civil War thousands of miles of railroads 
were chartered, but only 492 miles were built. Early 
railway building w^as beset with difficulties, chief of which 
was to raise the money. The various towns on the lines 
gave bonuses, the state gave sixteen sections of land, and 
loaned $6,000 of school fund money for every mile of track 
laid down. The land was often sold for 20 cents an acre. 
The public put up most of the money for the early railways, 
the promoters furnished most of the energy. A railway 
fossil of the sixties is an old law requiring trains to stop at 
least five minutes at each and every station. 

The Civil War ruined these early railroads, two being 
utterly destroyed. With one exception, railroad building 



246 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

did not begin again until 1870. The H. & T. C, alone 
among all the roads, recovered shortly after the war was 
over and built from Millican to Bryan in 1867, to Calvert 
in 1868, and on to Denison in 1873. 

The first railroad connection to the north and east was 
established in 1873 by the H. & T. C. meeting at Denison, 
the Katy, which had reached there the previous year. The 
Iron Mountain from St. Louis to Texarkana, connecting 
with the T. & P., formed the second railway to and from- 
Texas. In 1880 the Texas & New Orleans was finished 
to New Orleans from Houston, the Southern Pacific from 
California to El Paso, and the railway system of Texas be- 
came an integral part of the continental network. It was 
not till 1883 that the New Orleans to San Francisco lines 
were completed for through traflSc. 

The railroad net, thus slowly and painfully begun, spread 
with great rapidity after 1870. In 1875 there were 1,700 
miles in operation; 6,700 in 1885; 9,300 in 1895; 11,700 
in 1905; 16,000 in 1915, not counting 4,500 miles of side 
track. Texas builds on an average more than a mile of 
track per day. In 1881, 1,700 miles, in 1882, 1,100 miles, 
were built. It was in those booming days of the early 
eighties that a Texas mayor is said to have telegraphed to 
an Eastern colleague: *'Weatherford is now linked with 
bands of steel to New York," only to get the ungeographical 
reply from the mayor of little old New York, *' Where in 
hell is Weatherford?" Texas now has the largest mileage 
of any of the states, three or four thousand more than either 
Illinois or Pennsylvania. The roadbeds, rolling stock, and 
stations are being brought up to higher and higher standards, 



TRANSPORTATION 247 

more and longer and faster passenger and freight trains are 
running. Cannon ball, limited flyer, and de luxe trains 
abound. For example, two twenty-four-hour trains run from 
Austin to St. Louis. Trains are still behind time often enough 
to give a basis for much grumbling and for much miscellane- 
ous conversation on station platforms. Such is not the 
case in the prairie country; it is not necessary for the trav- 
eller to start to catch the train until a half -hour after the 
headlight is first visible. 

Texas has about half again as much mileage per inhabitant 
as the United States, but only two-thirds as much in pro- 
portion to area. The main railroad belt is southward over 
the Black Prairie through Dallas and Fort Worth to Hous- 
ton and Galveston. The Southern Pacific and Texas 
Pacific, diverging in a large V eastward from El Paso, 
cross the state to Orange on the southeastern corner, to 
Texarkana on the northeastern. Southward and south- 
westward run a great number of trunk lines into Texas. 
The Brownsville Line reaches to the mouth of the Rio 
Grande, the International connects with the Mexican Na- 
tional lines at Laredo, the Orient has nearly filled the small 
gap in its line between Kansas City and Chihuahua. The 
Cotton Belt, the Frisco, the Rock Island and Santa Fe 
enter the northern parts of the state from the northeast. 
The Santa Fe, the Katy, the Houston & Texas Central 
traverse the heart of Texas from the Red River to the Gulf, 
one Katy terminal being San Antonio. Southeastward 
from New Mexico and Colorado comes the Santa Fe right 
through to Galveston; the Denver and the Brazos Valley 
together make a trunk line that does likewise. Southward 



248 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

also runs the International from Fort Worth to Houston, 
the Southern Pacific from Dallas to Beaumont, the Kansas 
City Southern to Port Arthur. A hundred shorter lines tie 
various places together. 

The roads running south and southeastward to the Gulf 
have largely followed the general slope of the country, the 
general course of the rivers, and "have a downhill pull" 
most of the way to the ports. Even those roads whose 
courses are northward and eastward across the rivers are not 
disturbed by grades, because the river valleys are not deeply 
cut. Moreover, the ascent to the northwest is so gradual 
that 4,000 feet above the sea is reached without any con- 
spicuous grades. Consequently, there are no "loops" for 
the tourists to gaze at, and there is only one tunnel and that 
is on a "tap," to Fredericksburg. Fine mountain scenery 
from the car windows is scarce; there is only a bridge or 
two now and then, the one across the Pecos Canon on the 
Southern Pacific being 321 feet above low water. 

Baedeker devotes to Texas less than eight of his 600 pages 
about the United States. He double stars nothing, and of 
natural scenery he stars only Galveston Beach, which can't 
be seen from a railroad. At Paisano he says that one can 
see some fine mountains, that the Castle Rocks are worth 
seeing at Devil's River, that west of Fort Worth is "an 
interminable cattle country." No wonder that Texans 
travel by night and the Pullman Company flourishes. As 
a compensation, two engines are not needed to pull a loaded 
box car over a mountain. The scenery is not very fine for 
tourists, but the low railroad grades are mighty nice for 
freight, which outgoing flows mainly southeastward to the 



TRANSPORTATION 249 

Gulf and northeastward to Kansas City, St. Louis, and 
beyond. 

From the point of view of the Texas hinterland there 
are only four kinds of towns: "wet" towns and "dry" 
towns, those "on" and those "off" railroads. The increased 
value of land, the increased number of people, the increased 
facilities that follow the first coming of the railroad 
into a region, are so obvious that the Texas people have 
always been very liberal in donating aid to railway construc- 
tion. On the other hand, the failure of the railroads when 
built to fulfil too extravagant local hopes (which went so 
far sometimes as to imagine that the climate would be 
changed by the puffing of the engines), the sometimes 
supposedly excessive freight rates, and the frequently 
fraudulent schemes of overly sharp railway promoters, 
have helped to produce in the public mind a general and 
deep-seated prejudice against railroads and other corpora- 
tions, out of which have grown legitimate railway regulation 
and a partly illegitimate "damage suit industry." It is the 
old Aristophanic women trouble over again. TOien a town 
didn't have a railroad, it w^anted one; when it got the rail- 
road it began to "cuss" the management. 

But the advantages of having railroads are so obvious 
that every one did what was possible to help build them. 
An appreciable fraction of the cost of construction was 
contributed by private individuals in money, bonuses, 
and rights of way. Before the Constitution of 1876 pro- 
hibited the practice, about $1,500,000 was contributed by 
counties and towns which sold bonds to raise the money. 
Nearly $2,000,000 of school fund money was loaned the 



^50 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

antebellum railroads, $6,000 to a mile. Some of this was 
paid back, but some was forever lost to the school fund. 
No state bonds were ever issued to raise railway subsidies, 
because, after the legislature in 1870 had authorized such 
bonds. Comptroller A. Bledsoe refused to approve those 
sent him in 1871, and was sustained by the Supreme Court 
in his refusal. During the land-grant period of 1852-1882, 
one-seventh of Texas — 25,000,000 acres — was given by the 
state to the railroads. Sixteen sections, more than 10,000 
acres, for each mile of track constructed, was the ordinary 
state-land bonus. By 1882 the state had planned to give 
away three or four times as much public land as it had, and 
had actually given away about 10,000,000 acres more than 
it had. Forfeitures, however, brought the donations within 
the limits of the actual land. No wonder the giving of 
lands ended in 1882: "No birds were flying overhead, there 
were no birds to fly." 

There has been much argument concerning the land-grant 
era. Some say the state practically built the railways by 
giving 10,000 acres per mile. Others say that there was 
only a slow sale for the land at 25 cents an acre, that the 
railroads had to survey both their land and the school 
lands, that surveyors often demanded half of the land for 
locating the other half. The giving of so much land to 
the railroads undoubtedly brought the railroads sooner, 
and the labors of their immigration agents caused popula- 
tion to flow in rapidly. The cities built to the railroads, not 
the railroads to the cities. The railroads were required 
to get rid of their lands within a certain interval, but this 
law caused the lands often to fall under the control of a 



TRANSPORTATION 251 

subsidiary company which both prevented actual settle- 
ment and made large private profits for its stockholders. 
Says Professor Potts, whose history of Texas railways we 
have been following, summarizing the results of the land- 
grant era: "In spite of abuses on the part of the railways 
and of reckless generosity on the part of the people . . . 
Texas may fairly be congratulated on the results of the 
public aid she extended to railway construction." 

Despite a good deal of legislation intended to prevent it, 
the railroads have naturally gravitated into large systems 
to a considerable extent. These are but parts of larger 
systems outside. Three systems include more than half 
the Texas railroads and four do nearly two-thirds of the 
railroad business. 

The Southern Pacific system, based upon the Orange- 
El Paso and Houston to Denison main lines, has spread a 
network of railroads, chiefly in south and east Texas, which 
aggregate more than 3,000 miles and carry a fourth of the 
Texas tonnage. The Gould system has for its basis the 
Texas & Pacific and the International & Great Northern, 
which diverges from Texarkana to El Paso and to Laredo 
in an enormous V. Across the wings of this V runs the 
Fort Worth-Houston line, which almost changes the V to 
an A. The Gould system also has a mileage in excess of 
3,000 and carries a fifth of the state tonnage. The main 
line of the Sante Fe starts at Galveston and forms a Y at 
Temple. One prong extends through Fort Worth toward 
the north, the other northwestward to the main Chicago- 
California line in New Mexico. Shorter taps extend to 
various towns, notably Dallas and Beaumont and San 



252 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Angelo. The total Sante Fe mileage is above 2,000, this 
road carrying one-tenth of the tonnage. The Katy system 
includes about 1,500 miles; after entering the state from 
St. Louis and Chicago at Denison, the main line divides 
at Whitesboro, to pass through Fort Worth and Dallas, 
and reunites at Hillsboro, only to divide again at Granger 
to reach San Antonio on one prong, Houston and Galveston 
on the other. More than any other line the Katy runs 
lengthwise across the Black Prairie, the heart of Texas. 
The Katy carries a little above one-tenth of the Texas ton- 
nage. 

In fixing the value of all the railroads in Texas there is 
no lack of expert advice; on the contrary, there is an excess 
of experts, all disagreeing. The assessed valuation of the 
physical railways is $180,000,000, and their "intangible 
assets" or value in addition to their mere physical value 
are fixed by the state at $170,000,000. Hence what may be 
called the total assessed value of the Texas railways is 
$350,000,000. The State Railroad Commission's value 
for the physical railways is $400,000,000. The stocks, 
bonds, and current indebtedness of the railways total nearly 
$600,000,000. The railroad managements report the roads 
as costing nearly $650,000,000, which amount, says the 
Texas Railroad Commission, does "not represent the actual 
expenditures for grading, ties, rails, and other materials 
and labor. Sometimes whole series of income bonds were 
issued simultaneously w^ith the mortgage bonds. . . ." 
Mr. R. A. Thompson, formerly expert engineer of the Rail- 
road Commission, now a member of the Board of Valuation 
of the Interstate Commerce Commission, has expressed 



TRANSPORTATION 253 

the opinion at an official hearing that the physical property 
of the Texas roads is worth $500,000,000. The United 
States Census estimate is slightly in excess of one thousand 
millions 1 Between these extreme values is a disagreement 
of more than $600,000,000. When doctors disagree, the 
patient often dies. The Texas railways claim to be very 
sick and are affected with a lassitude so profound that they 
seem to be able to produce only very small dividends at 
very long intervals. The railroads, according to their own 
reports, do not pay a 1 per cent, dividend on even the 
smallest of the above valuations. 

The income from passengers, mail, and express is $35,- 
000,000, from freight $75,000,000, a total of $110,000,000. 
The mere moving of trains costs the roads $48,000,000, 
maintenance and other expenses amount to $42,000,000, 
making a total expense account of $90,000,000 and giving 
a ''net profit from operation" of $20,000,000. Taxes, hire 
of rolling stock, miscellaneous expenses, and interest on 
funded debts amount to $28,000,000, leaving the railroads 
with a pleasant little deficit of several millions a year. No 
wonder that a Texas railroad dividend has, in addition to 
its mere cash value, an intangible value due its rarity. 
Plutocrats in place of cashing dividend checks may keep 
them as souvenirs. Some say that the rarity of these 
dividends is due to real poverty, while others contend that 
it is due to very skilful bookkeeping on the part of the 
railway managers. 

A few averages may here be set down for the edification 
of the serious minded. On the average, the Texas railways 
are carrying annually 25,000,000 passengers fifty miles 



254 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

each, using tickets costing $1.20 apiece on passenger trains 
earning $1.15 per mile by hauling five cars containing forty- 
five people. The roads are also carrying annually, on the 
average, nearly 60,000,000 tons of freight a distance of 
125 miles at a cent a mile per ton on freight trains earning 
$2.70 per mile by hauling seven empty cars along with six- 
teen cars loaded to fifteen tons each. 

The revenue yielding freight runs about as follows: 
lumber and other forest products, 20 per cent.; coal, coke, 
and lignite, 13 per cent.; grains, flour, etc., 9 per cent.; 
cotton and by-products, 8 per cent.; stone and sand, 7 
per cent.; petroleum and oils, 6 per cent.; live stock and 
products, 5 per cent.; fruits, vegetables, and melons, 5 per 
cent. 

The export tonnage of the Gulf ports is several times as 
great as the import, and, as a consequence, much more 
freight comes by the railways into Texas than goes out. 
More than half the freight tonnage is interstate. 

In the last quarter of a century freight earnings have 
increased 55 per cent., gross earnings 65 per cent., operating 
expenses 70 per cent., income from operation 70 per cent., 
mileage 100 per cent. Although freight rates have decreased 
about 25 per cent., the earnings per mile of freight trains 
have increased 80 per cent., proof positive that a Texas 
freight train is carrying twice as much freight as it did in 
1890. 

There are nearly 70,000 people employed in running the 
railways of Texas. The Santa Fe and the Katy each em- 
ploy about 7,000, while the Gould lines employ 12,000, and 
the Southern Pacific 15,000. Several of the 5,000 lawyers 



TRANSPORTATION 255 

in Texas also derive their sustenance from the railways. 
In spite of the efforts of railway attorneys, generous juries 
award damages against the roads to the extent of two mil- 
lions annually for freight, half a million for live stock on 
the right of way, and two and a half millions for personal 
injuries. 

Small freight shipments are now being made fairly rapidly 
by means of "package cars," which are for freight what a 
mail sack is for mail. For example, 300 of these cars per 
day go out from Fort Worth and Dallas, to the neighboring 
towns, the freight for each town having been "assembled" 
beforehand. The Wells-Fargo is the leading express com- 
pany, running on two-thirds of the railway mileage. 

Competition is said to be the life of trade, but neither 
the railroads nor the small towns are altogether enjoying 
the spread of the inter urban electrics, which threaten to 
take passengers from the one and customers from the other. 
From Dallas as a centre radiate five lines, from Fort Worth 
three, while four other lines connect eight other cities, chief 
of which are Houston and Galveston. To the 500 miles 
of interurban electrics should be added 100 miles of gasoline 
interurbans, 65 miles of which are on the lower Rio Grande 
out of San Benito. 

A thousand or more electric street cars run on 600 miles 
of track in forty towns. Their owners are greatly disturbed 
by the jitneys which have suddenly appeared by dozens 
and hundreds. What will be the result of the jitney vs. 
street-car controversy no man can now tell, not even the 
lawyers nor the city commissioners. 



^56 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

"Good roads" is a Texas slogan, for there is a tremendous 
need of them. Education, marketing, progress in many 
directions depends upon them. The "spht-log drag" has 
become an institution; the "sand-clay" road has attained 
in east Texas the importance of a political issue; in fact, all 
the roads are nurseries of citizenship. Many a Texan has 
acquired his political education by listening to the wiseacres 
while sitting on a cracker-box at the store or working the 
neighborhood road with the neighbors. Gravel in the 
interior, shell along the coast, natural dirt nearly every- 
where, are the road materials. Alas! of the 150,000 miles 
of roads only 5,000 are classed as "surfaced," although from 
seven.to ten million dollars a year is spent upon roads and 
bridges. The climate makes maintenance difficult. Dur- 
ing a long dry spell the steel tires cut the road; the winds 
and the 80,000 Texas-owned motor cars scatter the result- 
ing dust all over the landscape. Then a torrential rain will 
carry away much of what is left. The Texas petroleums 
do not contain enough asphalt to mix with this dust of 
the roads and bind it into a solid mass. The Texas oils 
make greasy roads, the California oils make nearly asphalt 
streets. In the cities asphalt on a concrete base is being 
extensively used, and there is much natural asphalt in 
Uvalde and Montague counties which is sure to be used in 
road building. 

Between the long islands that line the 400 miles of Texas 
coast are sandy connecting reefs that obstruct navigation 
between the Gulf and the somewhat deeper bays back of 
the island. Millions of dollars has been spent in dredging 
channels through and to these shallow bays. Other mil- 



TRANSPORTATION 257 

lions of dollars has been profitably spent, chiefly by the 
United States, in building jetties that so confine the cur- 
rents caused by the small Gulf tides as to force them to cut 
channels across the bars. The Galveston jetties extend 
eight miles to sea and give a minimum depth of channel of 
thirty feet. Much dredging has also been done to maintain 
channels in the bays and rivers. Thus from the Galveston 
harbor extend channels to Texas City and Port Bolivar, 
which are officially parts of the port of Galveston. From 
the Galveston harbor also extends the ship channel up 
Buffalo Bayou to Houston. Next in importance to the 
Galveston-Houston harbor improvements are those at 
Sabine Lake connecting Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, Beau- 
mont, and Orange. Shallower channels are being main- 
tained or dug at Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, and a few 
other places. A heron that lit in the middle of the bay and 
calmly waded about while some investors were being told 
about deep water is said to have reduced in 1890 by 100 
per cent, the price of lots in Aransas Pass. 

Galveston is one of the fifteen biggest ports in the world. 
In total exports and imports she ranks with Manchester, 
Glasgow^ Southampton, Genoa, Trieste, New Orleans, 
and Montreal. She is beating the two last named for second 
place among American ports. Her high position is due, 
however, almost exclusively to cotton, which accounts for 
more than $250,000,000 of her $300,000,000 exports. The 
imports are less than $15,000,000; the imports and in- 
coming coastwise freight together are far less than the ex- 
ports and outgoing coastwise freight, and, as a result, the 
200,000 loaded cars that go annually into Galveston fre- 



258 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

quently come back unloaded. Another result of this one- 
way arrangement is the coming into Texas by rail of many 
more loaded cars than go out. Apparently this business 
of hauling empty freight cars so extensively, on the average 
one "empty" to two "fulls," ought to be discouraged as 
much as possible by allowing the Texas railroads to make 
very low freight rates from Galveston to the interior. 

The Port Arthur exports amount to $50,000,000 and 
consist chiefly of lumber and oil, though rice, sulphur, and 
various other items contribute to the total. At Beaumont it 
is not polite to make comparisons between the Galveston and 
Port Arthur channels, nor is it proper to think of the Neches 
River as inferior to the Mississippi in depth or breadth. 

The Houston Ship Channel, down which now go some 
3,000,000 tons of freight, and down which, to hear a Hous- 
tonian tell it, the entire commerce of the world is soon to 
go, appears quite differently according to which end of it 
you view. Approaching it from the Galveston end it is 
relatively unimportant, approaching it from the Houston 
end it is "the place where seventeen railroads meet the 
sea." Coming from the inland into Houston you find that 
a part of the noise you thought was due to manufacturing 
and trade arises from proud talk about the Channel and 
the "Turning Basin," "from which," said a Houstonian 
at a banquet, "ocean-going vessels will be able to take 
cargoes of Houston products directly through the Panama 
Canal to the great ports of Brazil and Argentina!" Speak- 
ing seriously, the ship channel, "long a cherished dream," 
will be of some service to commerce in general and of great 
service to Houston in particular. The city has agreed to 




A Partial \'ii,\v of Vout Worth 




-!!' !!!:i!!^ni ^4 sa aa 5^ sa la sc B 

^'H; ^ s(§ 5i s^ ^ sa 89 n 



.- JL 



View in Husixess Section of Dallas 
Looking east from Lamar Street on Main 




K '^ 









^ 0/ 

C 13 

/^ - 

3^ 2 




TRANSPORTATION 259 

maintain free wharves in return for the United States 
keeping the channel open. Large plants are now clustering 
as thickly along the ship channel as flies around a streak of 
molasses. May they be built of concrete so that no bubonic 
rat may find a place therein. 

Speaking of the Panama Canal reminds us of the fact 
that, varying inversely as the distance from the coast, 
Texans are prone to exaggerate its importance, important 
to Texas as it doubtless is to be. Maps of the United States 
are drawn showing a hundred railroad lines converging 
from Salt Lake and Chicago to the Texas coast. Sometimes 
a funnel is pictured sucking all the Middle West through 
the Houston-Galveston nozzle, from which steamship lines 
diverge to every point known to geographers, each point 
nearer by 300 miles to Texas than it is to New York. iVU 
this is very fine, and many prospects will be realized, but 
not all of them. When a distinguished gentleman from 
Spain was invited to lecture at the Rice Institute at Hous- 
ton sundry wiseacres thought it a sapient bid for South 
American trade. Perhaps they located Spain somewhere 
south of us; perhaps they exaggerated the tie that binds 
Old Spain to the New. 

Both pessimistic and optimistic anticipations are often at 
fault. Thus, Judge John B. Jones in 1850 opposed the 
building of a railroad out of Houston on the ground that 
all the trade and travel in Texas would not support one 
line, while an enthusiast, writing in the Texas Almanac for 
1873, predicted that the completion of the Southern & Texas 
Pacific to California would "cause the mighty commerce of 
India, China, and Japan to flow through Galveston." 



260 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Pending Panama Canal developments Texas is building 
an intercoastal canal with the help of Uncle Sam's pocket- 
book. The idea is to have a canal from the mouth of the 
Rio Grande around the Gulf Coast. Wliether traffic on 
the canal could flourish in competition with the railroads on 
the land and the ocean boats on the Gulf is a matter of 
speculation. However this may be it is now possible to go 
from Corpus Christi to Galveston by water without being ex- 
posed to the Gulf. 

Texas rivers are getting larger and larger amounts of 
money in the biennial pork barrel distribution that takes 
place in Washington. Texas Congressman, like other Con- 
gressmen, have labored in season and out of season to secure 
appropriations for their districts and are succeeding better 
now that Texas is populous. Dallas has been particularly 
insistent on navigating the Trinity; some $2,000,000 has 
already been spent on surveys and on putting in a system of 
locks from Dallas down the river. Inspired by the possi- 
bility of small boats ascending the Trinity, Waco yearns 
to navigate the Brazos, and Austin is meditating on asking 
Congress to make the Colorado navigable. Pulling logs 
out of Red River has long been one of Uncle Sam's amuse- 
ments, but whether the money expended on the upper 
parts of the Texas rivers will ever pay interest in the form 
of cheap transportation is a question whose answer is prob- 
ably negative. In flood time a big boat can go a long way 
up a Texas river, but if it waits too long for its return trip 
it will take another flood, not a Congressional appropriation, 
to get it back to sea again. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE TRADE OF THE CITIES 

" Every town has 25 per cent, more population than the latest census indicates. 
For years unfortunate schisms have impeded the progress of Every town: the 
rivalry between the two leading banks, the municipal politics feud, and worst of 
all the split on the prohibition question. Everytown is the worst place on earth 
for gossip, and the servant problem is simply awful. If Everytown ever ex- 
pects to amount to anything it will have to poison the old fossils who are now in 
control." — John E. Rosser of Dallas, in "Ldfe." 

THE real estate man, the secretary of the Commercial 
Club, and the drummer are abroad in the land. 
The Business Men's Association and the Advertising 
Club depart on the trade excursions to astonish and attract 
the neighboring towns with the gorgeousness of their booster 
banners and the cheapness of their wares. Advertising has 
become both a business and an art and flourishes along the 
channels of trade as cuckle-burs along the banks of creeks. 
The printed matter got out by ambitious municipalities 
anxious to attract population and money exliibits both 
monotony and variety. Sixty towns, yes, six hundred 
towns, in Texas are "strategically situated." A hundred 
towns "have recently built a $50,000 hotel, a $12,000 ice 
plant, a $60,000 schoolliouse, and a $35,000 opera house." 
A dozen towns have just constructed a Masonic Temple or 
a cotton-oil mill or a something else. Each town is more 
happily situated than Nacogdoches, which, according to 
Governor Roberts, was merely "in the centre of the sur^ 
rounding country"; all the other towns are in the centre 

£61 



262 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

of an "unsurpassed country." Nacogdoches too has easily 
moved to the heart of the unsurpassed by merely starting a 
Business Men's Association and employing a live secretary. 
If a town isn't a centre, it's a "gateway." Around every 
town the soil is of "inexhaustible fertility," varying from 
"best black waxy" through "rich hog-wallow" to "deep 
sandy loam." Often the XYZ Syndicate, realizing the 
enormous advantages of the region, has invested one or two or 
three millions in a ranch, or an irrigation project, or a colon- 
ization scheme. Always the land has gone from 50 cents an 
acre to $50 an acre, and the wells or the river invariably 
furnish an unlimited supply of water. Whatever the number 
of railroads, more are always coming immediately. 

Words failing, pictures are used by the boosters. The 
bank, the railroad station, the home of the leading citizen, 
and the main street invariably appear, accompanied by 
huge beets and watermelons and men on horseback lost in 
tall Kaffir corn or sugar-cane. Occasionally, imitating 
California, a picture is made of a cement hotel, a climbing 
vine, and a geranium. If the town is in northwest Texas, 
it is "above quarantine"; if in south Texas, it is a "winter 
playground." If anywhere, the industrious are attracted 
and the lazy repelled by a statement concerning the pos- 
sibility of working all year uninterrupted by the "cold 
winters of the North, where stock have to be housed and 
fed." The profit to be derived from raising high-priced 
early vegetables is never left out, and the "If I were a young 
man I'd pack my grip and come to Texas" of James Wilson, 
for so long a time Secretary of Agriculture of the United 
States, is quoted by all the boosters who happen to have 



THE TRADE OF THE CITIES 263 

heard of the remark. If it Is a railroad circular that you 
are looking at, you are sure to be told that "along our lines 
are to be found some of the most fertile and attractive parts 
of Texas," each crammed with opportunities and yearning 
for new people. To cap it all, the bigness of Texas is used 
as a clinching argument. The spirit of Colonel Sellers, 
thank Heaven, is still with us, and fond hope still drags us 
from sunny to-day into the far more golden to-morrow. 

Curiously enough, a lot of this stuff is true. The follow- 
ing specific statements are doubtless all true unless what is 
somewhat exceptional be mistaken for the average: *'$62 on 
okra from one-sixteenth of an acre"; "$424.40 on water- 
melons from three and a half acres"; "$361.25 on black- 
berries from one and one-fourth acres"; "an average of 390 
crates of tomatoes to an acre"; "the Haupt blackberry 
has paid over $1,000 an acre in this county and a failure is 
unknown"; "$1,097 from two acres of strawberries"; "one- 
eighth of an acre of snap beans netted $135"; "200 bushels 
of Irish potatoes in the spring, 300 bushels of Bradley yams 
in the fall, raised on the same acre, netting over $500," and 
so on ad infinitum. 

There are other varieties of talk. "Matagordo County 
is a paradise for hunters and fishermen" ; "Harris County 
has more good roads than any state in the old South"; 
"Why go to southern California when the Plains Country 
is better?" "Cooke County came first by capturing forty- 
three first prizes at the State Fair"; "For health, for pros- 
perity, for society, Childress is without a peer"; "Man 
wants no more than he can get at Memphis"; "Biggest 
gas well in the world at Henrietta, where pure petroleum 



264 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

pours plentifully and people's purses protrude plethorically" ; 
"Brady is the live wire of the Central West"; "Mineral 
Wells is the wonder city of Texas"; "Honey Grove is the 
garden spot of Fannin County"; "Wills Point is first in 
prairie hay"; "You are not on the right trail unless you 
are headed for Menard"; "Clarksville raises the 30-cent, 
long staple cotton"; "Stamford, nine years old, population 
seven thousand"; "More than one thousand happy, ruddy- 
faced children in our four two-story stone schoolhouses" ; 
"Lufkin is the home of the most famous Hoo Hoo band"; 
"McLennan County soil was awarded the gold prize at the 
French Universal Exposition against specimens from the 
valleys of the Nile, Amazon, Danube, and Ganges as su- 
perior to all others for general agricultural purposes"; 
"Travis County has the largest spinach farm in the world"; 
"McKinney manufactures the only colored cotton goods 
in the Southwest"; "Temple's Tickle Chicle is a peerless 
chewing gum"; "The Round Rock Broom Company won the 
gold medal at the World's Fair." 

Impatient at these somewhat petty details concerning 
communities, each anxious to grow more rapidly than its 
neighbors, the discriminating reader will not fail to use these 
straws to determine which way the wind is blowing. It is 
no breeze, but a gale, that is sending all Texas forward to 
greater material wealth and a loftier civilization. A single 
improvement in a little town, too much magnified by local 
pride, may produce unsympathetic smiles, but a hundred 
improvements in each of five hundred towns demand re- 
spect. They are the drum-beats of an advancing people. 

The wholesale and retail trade of the larger distributing 



THE TRADE OF THE CITIES 265 

centres is big enough to command very respectful attention. 
It is impossible to get exact and difficult to get approximate 
statistics. The state makes no effort to compile complete 
data relating to trade, and the compilation is too difficult 
for the local chambers of commerce. It appears, however, 
that the wholesale trade of Dallas is close to $200,000,000 
a year, that the wholesale trade of Houston, Fort Worth, 
and San Antonio is well above $100,000,000 each. The 
primacy of Dallas is asserted, subject to correction by and in 
fear of the statisticians of the three other cities. Let us 
here translate into round numbers a part of what the enter- 
prising cities of Texas have to say for themselves. 

Dallas is the "village of yesterday, the city of to-day, the 
metropolis of to-morrow." Building permits are running 
eight and a half millions a year; the 200,000 Club is working 
on full time; 500,000 people can reach Dallas in two hours' 
ride or less ; nearly two million people live within a hundred 
miles, more than within a hundred miles of Kansas City or 
St. Louis; nine railroads radiate in thirteen directions, and 
five interurbans centre in Dallas; the express business per 
capita is first in the United States. Dallas is the largest 
inland spot cotton market in the world, and the State Fair 
of Texas at Dallas is the largest of all the state fairs, with 
700,000 visitors annually. Dallas is seventh in the United 
States as a telegraph centre and is second in the world in the 
sale of agricultural implements ; she sells farming machineiy 
to the average value of $100,000 a day. Post-office receipts 
are in excess of a million dollars, while wholesale houses 
number 318, factories nearly 400. 

Houston, at the head of navigation on Buffalo Bayou, 



266 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

started in early days because the Harris family that founded 
Harrisburg, and the Aliens who founded Houston, could not 
agree on a trade that would have concentrated their energies 
on Harrisburg. Houston has more skyscrapers than any 
city of its size, and in number of automobiles is second only 
to Los Angeles; is the largest inland cotton port market 
in the world, 3,000,000 bales annually; has free w^harfage, 
enormous storage and immense compresses. Houston is 
the lumber and oil centre of the southwest. The annual 
lumber trade is beyond $40,000,000, nearly a third of the 
total wholesale trade. The Kirby and the Chicago lumber 
companies, the Texas, the Gulf, and the Magnolia oil com- 
panies are enormous concerns with headquarters at Houston. 
One-tenth of the railroad employees of Texas centre at Hous- 
ton. In banking Houston is ahead of both Dallas and New 
Orleans in deposits per capita and in several other items. 
The retail trade is in the neighborhood of $60,000,000. 
Forty artesian wells furnish an abundant supply of pure 
water, and the Chamber of Commerce is the oldest in Texas, 
dating from 1840. 

For years Dallas has been expecting to get ahead of San 
Antonio in population, and Houston has been expecting to 
catch Dallas. Except in 1890, when Dallas was reported 
a few hundred ahead, San Antonio has managed to remain 
the largest city in Texas. Historically by far the most 
interesting of the Texas cities, San Antonio has evolved from 
an old Spanish mission into a large modern commercial 
centre without losing all of the flavor of its past. A dis- 
tributing centre for a vast and rapidly developing area, a 
resort where tourists winter by the thousands, the Mecca of 



THE TRADE OF THE CITIES 267 

the south Texas cow and sheep men, San Antonio does a 
wholesale and retail trade tliat keeps her the biggest city in 
Texas. Her trade is of a miscellaneous character, not very 
especially marked along certain lines, as is the trade of Dallas, 
of Fort Worth, of Houston, and of El Paso. 

After listing the commercial glories of her rivals, what 
remains for Fort Worth? Many things. Listen! Fort 
Worth has more railroads than any town in Texas, and hence 
has one-line rates to more places; she is the largest distri- 
butor of groceries in Texas, and claims the second largest 
wholesale grocery in the United States and the largest whole- 
sale liquor house in the Southwest; she is the third largest 
horse and mule market in the world, and the third largest 
live-stock and packing centre in the United States; she 
receives nearly 2,000,000 head of cattle, calves, hogs, and 
sheep, and inhospitably slaughters over half of what she 
receives. Her cold-storage capacity naturally exceeds that 
of all the rest of the Texas cities. She is the grain centre 
of the Southwest, having eighteen elevators with a capacity 
of 3,000,000 bushels. Fort Worth is an oil centre and the 
rendezvous of north and northwest Texas cowmen; she 
is the headquarters of the eleventh division of the railway 
mail service, with more than a hundred mail trains per day; 
she is a furniture centre, has the largest wagon factory ia the 
South, and the only steel rolling mill in Texas. Like Dallas, 
Fort Worth gets her water from an artificial reservoir holding 
thirty-one billion gallons; the reservoir is fed by artesian wells. 

Commercial secretaries are great on geometry. Each city 
is the centre of a "circle," even if its circle overlap exten- 
sively the circle of some other city. Dallas mentions every- 



268 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

thing inside her circle except Fort Worth, and her rival is 
equally forgetful when it comes to mentioning Dallas. 
Doubtless Emerson's essay on circles would have been much 
improved had he left Concord and come to Texas to study 
circles, particularly the circle of which El Paso is the centre. 
This vast curve, which is stopped only by encountering 
Denver, Los Angeles, Chihuahua, and San Antonio, is so 
great a circle that it is nearly as big as the equator. Only a 
part of it is in Texas, which, as a consequence, can claim 
only a part of the numerous glories of El Paso as listed by 
local pride with its usual reticence. El Paso has the largest 
wood finishing and box factory in the world, employing 
2,000 people and turning out about fifty carloads a day; 
she has the largest silver-copper-lead smelter in the United 
States, and leads in Texas savings banks; she does more busi- 
ness per capita than any city in the United States; her 
name comes from the fact that she occupies the lowest pass 
across the Rockies between the Arctic Ocean and the 
Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The Elephant Butte dam will 
enable the irrigation farmer to make his own weather over 
200,000 acres of fertile land. El Paso has the largest dairy 
serving direct to consumers, a foundry employing 400 men, 
a 500,000-barrel cement plant, and wholesale and retail 
stores commensurate with the centre of so large a trade 
region. She is growing fast, the Mexican disturbances hav- 
ing apparently not hurt her at all. She is built of brick 
at — not to — an altitude of 3,760 feet, and has a supply of very 
pure water from the mountains. 

After El Paso comes Galveston, and after Galveston comes 
Waco, Beaumont, Austin, all in the 25,000 class or above, 



THE TRADE OF THE CITIES 269 

and all doing a thriving trade. Having populations between 
ten and iSfteen thousand are a dozen or more towns with 
substantial wholesale and retail trades that vary somewhat 
in character with their locations. Brownsville at the 
southern tip of Texas, Laredo 150 miles up the Rio Grande, 
Corpus Christi 150 miles north along the coast, are the three 
towns that command the south Texas triangle. Texarkana 
and Paris in northeast Texas, Beaumont and Houston and 
Galveston in southeast Texas, v/ith Marshall and Tyler 
and Palestine in between, are the cities of the eastern por- 
tion. Starting at Red River and going south, the cities of 
the densely populated black waxy country are Denison and 
Sherman, Greenville, Dallas, and Fort Worth, Cleburne and 
Corsicana, Waco, Temple, Austin, and San Antonio last 
but not least. In west Texas the towns are not so crowded 
together. Amarillo is the metropolis of the Panhandle. 
W^ichita Falls on the north, Abilene at the centre, San Angelo 
on the south, are the chief towns in a vast area that lies 
west of the black waxy land. El Paso stands without a 
rival in the Trans-Pecos. 

To mention fifty other lesser towns would weary the 
reader; to omit them will irritate some of their inhabitants. 
We must prefer the comfort of our readers. Besides, any 
geography of Texas will tell you about these towns and any 
map of Texas will show you where they are. If you want 
to know more about them, ask their commercial secre- 
taries; if you want to know still more visit them, and you'll 
not only acquire knowledge, but you'll get a welcome that 
will warm you were you a misanthrope with a heart made 
of frozen nitrogen. 



CHAPTER XIII 



EXPORTS AND IMPORTS 



"The object sought in compiling a statistical analysis of the growth, present 
conditions, and future prospects of the material affairs of Texas is to provide 
dependable data for homeseekers, reliable information for investors, and in- 
structive facts for our citizenship." — "Industrial Texas. " 

A SHORT time ago the Texas Commercial Secretaries 
and Business Men's Association drew up and pub- 
lished in a pamphlet entitled, "Industrial Texas," 
a Texas balance sheet which exhibited, as best they could, 
mainly from official United States statistics, the production 
and consumption of the state, together with the consequent 
exports and imports. Such a balance sheet is bound to be 
inaccurate, and in presenting it, abbreviated and slightly 
modified, we shall use only very round numbers. It is 
undoubtedly sufficiently accurate to show the general Texas 
situation and to furnish a solid basis of fact upon which to 
build wise plans for the future. The "Buy it made in 
Texas!" the B I M I T slogan, is not the wail of a group of 
stand-pat local protectionists, but the cry of a people who 
have not yet made a full use of their abundant natural re- 
sources. 

Bankers and commission men, wholesalers and retailers, 
occupy a legitimate place in our economic life. So do the 
railroads, the steamship lines, and the delivery wagons. It 
will never be possible again for a community profitably to cut 
itself off from commerce with its neighbors and the rest of 

270 



EXPORTS AND IMPORTS 271 

the world. It is unwise to produce at home what may 
more advantageously be obtained elsewhere. In Texas, 
however, at the present, the shoe is on the other foot; she 
is buying from outside many things that she could more 
profitably produce at home. The "Buy it made in Texas" 
cry is at present economically highly justifiable. If you 
raise at home what you eat, neither bad roads nor high 
freight rates nor banking credit nor middlemen nor bad mar- 
kets need disturb your peaceful dreams. 

"A dozen hens and one old sow 
Will feed you well, helped by a cow." 

Note well the following details of the Texas balance 
sheet, put in a way that we hope is clear and sufficiently 
exact for present purposes, even if not entirely satisfactory 
to an exacting bookkeeper. The debits and credits are 
very significant: 

Cotton Lint. — Production, 265 million dollars; consump- 
tion, 15 millions; exports, 250 millions. 
^ Beef and Pork. — Production of beef 50 millions of dollars, 
of pork 25 millions; consumption of beef 20 millions, of 
pork 50 millions; exports 5 millions. The beef exported 
from Texas barely pays for the pork imported. 

Horses, Mules, and Leather. — Production of horses, mules, 
and leather 30 millions of dollars; consumption of horses, 
mules, and leather, 30 millions. The horses and mules 
exported from Texas about pay for the leather imported. 

Cotton Seed, Corn, and Wheat. — Production of cotton seed 
50 millions of dollars, of corn 100 millions, of wheat 20 
millions; consumption of cotton seed 10 millions, of corn 



272 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

130 millions, of wheat 20 millions. The cottonseed prod- 
ucts exported approximately pay for the corn and wheat 
imported. 

Lumber and Vehicles. — Production of lumber 35 millions 
of dollars; consumption of vehicles 35 millions. The lum- 
ber and other forest products of Texas about pay for the 
automobiles and other vehicles bought each year. 

Rice and Sugar. — ^The 10 millions of dollars of rice ex- 
ported pays for the 10 millions of sugar imported. 

Petroleum and Coal. — ^Production, 20 millions of dollars; 
consumption, 20 millions. The 5 millions of petroleum ex- 
ported pays for the 5 millions of coal imported. 

Texas consumption appreciably] exceeds the Texas pro- 
duction of the following items: agricultural implements, 
furniture, wool, silk, Irish potatoes, peas, beans, tobacco, 
coffee, tea, fish, oysters, dairy products, and liquors. The 
total consumption of these items is about 100 millions of 
dollars, the total production is about 50 millions. 

Consumption and production are about equal in the case 
of oats, grasses, peanuts, fruits and vegetables, poultry and 
eggs, flowers, salt, mineral waters, gas, ice, clay products, 
and a miscellaneous assortment of other things. These 
items total about 150 millions in both the production and 
consumption columns. 

Adding together all the items in the production column, a 
total of over 800 millions of dollars is obtained; adding 
similarly the consumption column, about 600 millions is the 
result. The excess of exports over imports is therefore 
about 200 millions a year. This excess is less than the value 
of the cotton lint exported, and, exception being made of 



EXrORTS AND IMPORTS 273 

this lint, Texas is, according to these estimates, not quite 
seK-supporting. 

The agricultural extension department of the Inter- 
national Harvester Company has made some investigations 
which point toward a greater importation of food and feed 
than is assumed in the above summary. An error of 50 
millions in the grand summary is possible. Prof. P. G. 
Holden is of the opinion that each chamber of commerce in 
Texas should *'find out the amount of food and feed that is 
shipped into the town every year that could be produced at 
home," in order to show the people "where their money has 
gone." 

The failure of Texas to be agriculturally self-supporting 
is in spite of the fact that "coffee and tea are the only agri- 
cultural products consumed to any extent in Texas which 
are not produced in commercial quantities within our bor- 
ders." Bad as is the failure, it might be worse. In the 
first place it is remediable; whenever Texas desires inde- 
pendence sufficiently to work harder for it she can cease to 
be so largely dependent on the outside world. In the second 
place, Texas is a state so admirably fitted to produce cotton 
that she ought to continue to do so even if she does have to 
import other things now and then. In the third place, 
even as things are, exports exceed imports by 200 millions, 
a pretty neat sum to put by each year. This comfortable 
saving in part explains the very rapid increase in the wealth 
of the state, an increase so great that a separate chapter is 
needed to discuss it. 

Putting 200 millions annually into the Texas stocking is 
a pretty big saving. It is 50 dollars apiece for every man, 



274 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

woman, and child in the state. But it isn't big enough when 
it may be made larger so easily. On then with the slogans: 
" Plant more grain ! " "Stop living out of tin cans ! " "Live 
at home!" "If you can raise only two chickens a year, 
no wonder two small ones cost 80 cents!" "Up with the 
cow and the pig, down with the 60,000 farms without 
chickens, the 90,000 without a cow, the 125,000 without a 
pig, the 350,000 without sweet potatoes!" "It requires 
nearly 15 bales of cotton at 9 cents a pound to purchase 
100 bushels of canned sweet potatoes that can be raised on 
one acre of ground!" 

Texas, "where the prairies laugh to plenty with the tickle 
of the hoe," is going to make Midas, Croesus, Rockefeller 
& Company look like poor folks when she learns to tickle 
herself better, thereby producing a far more favorable bal- 
ance of trade and a more Gargantuan laughter. 




There is an interesting story connected with this fine office building. Brig. 
Cen. Anson Mills, I'. S. A., retired, in LSoS made the first survey of El Paso's town 
site. For more than half a century he held on to property he acquired in the town 
site, and recently he built this large reinforced concrete office l)uililing on the very 
site where the first building of the present city once stood 







'',•''1' 



llill III 

mil in 
mil in 

III" 



I'll 111 III 
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'Kit 

Til, •"" 

nil III nil! 
nil III nil T 
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Courtesy of Haiiii and Kendall 
The BrscH BiiLDiNii, Dallas 



The Amicable Insurance Bttild- 
i.NLi — ^^ acd's Skvschapek 




' ■..H/7,•^v uf the ll,ni-l„H Cluimli,, ,, (. , 

Ki( t lloiKL, JloisToN, Texas 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE MATERIAL WEALTH OF TEXAS 

"If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, 
And because mine hand had gotten much; 
This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges." 

—Job. 

IT IS the duty and the privilege of the remainder of this 
book to deal with the higher activities and the spiritual 
wealth of Texas, with human welfare and human prog- 
ress. Here it is our humbler task to summarize from the 
Census the material results, measured in dollars, of the work- 
ing of the people of Texas with the land upon which they 
live. The Census summary is very incomplete. It takes 
no account of the strength or the weakness of the people, 
of the smiles of children and the good deeds of men, of sum- 
mer breeze and bright sunshine, of the fishes in the sea and 
of most of the minerals in the earth, of the coming rains and 
of future crops. It includes only some of those tangible 
things that men are accustomed to measure in dollars. In- 
complete and imperfect as the Census figures relating to 
wealth may be— the Census itself calls them "estimates"— 
they nevertheless show beyond the shadow of a doubt how 
very rapidly Texas is increasing in material wealth. 

Owing to the fairly rapid decline in the value of the dollar 
in recent years, the real growth in material wealth has not 
been as great as the following figures indicate. Making all 
fair allowances for the depreciation of money, assume, in 

275 



276 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

excess of the real decline, that the dollar of 1915 is worth 
only haK as much as the dollar of 1900, the Census figures 
still show an enormous increase in wealth during the last 
fifteen years. 

TRUE VALUE OF ALL PROPERTY, ESTIMATES OF THE U. S. CENSUS, 
IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS 



YEAR 


TEXAS 


u. s. 


1850 


53 

365 

127 

825 

2,106 

2,322 

2,836 

6,860 


7,136 


1860 


16,160 


1870 


24,054 


1880 


43,642 


1890 


65,037 


1900 


88,517 


1904 


107,104 


1912 


187,739 



The Civil War and the Reconstruction retarded the 
material development of Texas, but the decrease in wealth 
shown between 1860 and 1870 is mainly psychological. The 
soil was as fertile in 1870 as in 1860, the Yankees had car- 
ried none of it away, the destruction of property had not 
been excessive, the negroes were more numerous, the total 
population had increased from 600,000 to 800,000. The 
very oldtimers like to think that the Yankees ruined them, 
it seems to make them feel better. Things were pretty bad 
doubtless — the carpet-baggers were an awful infliction — but 
there was plenty to eat and many children were born during 
the war and Reconstruction decade. 

From 1870 to 1890 was a period of very rapid and real 
growth in every way. The early nineties saw a great decline 
in prices that caused the total wealth in 1900 to be only 



THE MATERIAL WEALTH OF TEXAS 277 

10 per cent, in excess of that in 1890, but the real develop- 
ment of the country was not retarded to anything like the 
amount indicated by the figures. Since 1900 the rise in 
prices, combined with an enormous actual growth, has pro- 
duced an increase in values that is absolutely astonishing. 
The wealth per capita has doubled in eight years! Think 
of an increase of four billions in eight years, of five hundred 
millions iri one year! This is an increase of nearly a thou- 
sand dollars per capita in eight years, of considerably over a 
million dollars per day. Part of this increase is due to the 
whimsical vagaries of money, affected by natural causes or 
by the manipulation of high finance; part is real. 



TRUE VALUE OF ALL PROPERTY IN TEXAS, CLASSIFIED ESTIMATES OF 
THE U. S. CENSUS IN MILLIONS OF DOLLARS 



1912 

3,608 

395 

62 

110 

81 

1,000 

172 

1,432 

6,860 

2.533 



Real property and improvements 

Live stock 

Farm implements .... 
Manufacturing machinery . 
Silver and gold coin 
Railroads and equipment . 
Street railways, shipping, etc. . 
All other property .... 

Total 

Assessed values 



1900 


1904 


1,30 


1,555 


249 


287 


30 


37 


34 


43 


54 


64 


198 


238 


4G 


69 


401 


543 


2,322 


2,836 


946 


1,083 



The details of this recent increase in values are worthy of 
attention. Nearly two of the four billions of increase be- 
tween 1904 and 1912 is due to the increased prices attached 
to land. The increase of $750,000,000 in the railroads is 



278 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

probably due in part to under- valuation in 1904 and over- 
valuation in 1912. The figures of real significance in show- 
ing the development of the state are to be found under 
"farm implements," "manufacturing machinery," "and 
all other property." The last item includes household 
furniture, vehicles, clothing, and personal adornments, and 
stocks of merchandise imported or manufactured or raised 
on the farms. The rapid growth of this item is particularly 
indicative of the growth of larger stores and the building 
and furnishing of better homes to live in. The spending 
of $25,000,000 a year for automobiles is another straw that 
points in the same direction. 

It used to be said, irrationally, that hot-air furnaces would 
not work in Texas; now every town house that is built 
costing over $5,000 is equipped with one. Porcelain bath- 
tubs are spreading from the towns to the country, and taste- 
ful bungalows are replacing the old box houses. No town of 
any size is without an electric-light plant, a water-works, a 
telephone system, and an ice factory. Oldtimers who drank 
ditch water and rode horseback, regarding even a buggy as 
effeminate, now dash along in motor cars carrying a chunk of 
ice and some certified water bought at the town drug store. 

The times change and we change with them, especially 
in town. In the country the invasion of better living con- 
ditions and of luxuries even may be seen but is not so ap- 
parent. Primitive conditions prevail still to a large extent 
in many districts, the distribution of good things is sadly 
unequal, but the woman has hidden the leaven in three 
measures of meal and the whole will soon be leavened. 

Texas buys food that she ought to raise at home, goods 



THE MATERIAL WEALTH OF TEXAS 279 

that she ought to make at home. Like all miserable sinners, 
she has left undone those things which she ought to have 
done and she has done those things which she ought not 
to have done. But the Lord has been merciful, Texas has 
flourished, and her wealth has increased by millions and 
millions. An overflowing horn of plenty hangs always over 
Texas, spilling endless good things in all directions. 



PART V— PROGRESS AND ITS PROBLEMS 



CHAPTER 1 

BANKING 

"Moneys is your suit." — Shylock. 

SAM HOUSTON, a friend of Andrew Jackson, was, 
like his distinguished mentor, an enemy to bankings 
especially governmental banking enterprises. In 
1833, while Texas was yet a part of Mexico, in assisting to 
prepare a proposed constitution calling for separate state- 
hood for Texas and Coahuila, Houston had inserted this 
sweeping provision : 

"No bank nor banking institution nor office of discount and deposit 
nor any other moneyed corporation nor banking establishment shall ever 
exist during the continuance of the present Constitution." 

Houston claimed that "human cupidity and stringent 
times would prove stronger than constitutional provisions.'* 
The spirit of this early opposition to banks, intensified by 
the breaking down of the state banking system through- 
out the South during the Civil War, has continued to 
characterize state banking legislation in Texas almost up 
to the present time, so much so that the first Commissioner 
of Banking in Texas, Mr. Thomas B. Love, declares that 
"the story of banking in Texas is altogether unique in the 
financial history of the United States and of the world"; 
for the men who thought like Houston wrote into the first 
State Constitution of Texas a provision which read : 

" No corporate body shall hereafter be created, renewed, or extended 
with banking or discounting privileges," 

283 



284 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

a provision which remained in force, except for an interreg- 
num during " Reconstruction " days, until repealed by tlie 
people in November, 1904, prior to the enactment of a law 
which made possible the present successful state banking 
system of Texas. The opposition to state banks, however, 
did not prevent efforts being made to secure special charters. 
Texas and Coahuila in 1835 chartered the Commercial and 
Agricultural Bank with a capital of $1,000,000. After 
Texas' independence had been won the Texas Congress 
recognized the charter of this institution and issued an addi- 
tional charter to the Texas Railroad Navigation & Banking 
Company. This latter institution had a short and inglorious 
career, never, in fact, really being organized for business, 
though some of its supporters disposed of enough of their 
stock to yield a profit of $60,000. The charter of the Com- 
mercial and Agricultural Bank with exclusive right of note 
issue was taken over later (in 1841) by McKinney and 
Williams, who had "made large advances to the Govern- 
ment at an early period of its existence." The State Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1845 refusing to interfere with 
this charter, the bank opened for business at Galveston in 
1848. and later established a branch at Brownsville. Owing 
both to unfriendly suits instituted by the state government 
and to the death, in 1858, of its first and only president, 
Samuel M. Williams, the bank went into voluntary liquida- 
tion. A writer of that time says of its history: 

"Since the establishment of this bank the mercantile interest of this 
portion of Texas has been much benefited as it has introduced a system 
of promptness in taking up promissory notes on the day on which they 
are due, which was far from being the custom in olden times; besides 



BANKING 285 

which, this estabhshment does a good business in exchange and has been 
a great convenience to the merchants of Galveston." 

Another bank, also located in Galveston, the firm of R. 
& D. G. Mills, operated successfully at the same time by 
endorsing the notes of a Mississippi banking house. These 
notes were known for years as "Mills money" and freely 
circulated to the amount of several hundred thousand dol- 
lars; but this bank, too, became involved in suits instituted 
by the Attorney-General of Texas. With its retirement 
from business came to an end the two important before-the- 
war banking concerns, except the commercial houses that 
carried on such practical banking operations as were in- 
cluded in and incident to their business. 

In this connection, the attempts of Texas to go into bank- 
ing business on her own account are interesting. During 
the Plenary Convention which met in Washington, Texas, 
late in 1836, Asa Brigham, afterward the first Treasurer 
of the Republic, introduced a resolution, which was tabled, 
to establish a National Bank of the Republic. Later the 
same year, during the sessions of the first Congress, he re- 
introduced the measure, which, along with other bank legis- 
lation, passed into oblivion because of the financial panic 
of that time throughout the American Union. Henry 
Smith, Secretary of the Treasury in 1837, suggested the 
founding of a National Bank on Texas bonds, a recommen- 
dation which was followed by a Senate bill for the estab- 
lishment of such a bank with a capital of $3,000,000. The 
bank was to be based upon a special pledge of the public 
domain, should be the Government's fiscal agent, a regu- 
lator of exchange, a bank of discount, loan, and deposit, 



286 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

and a bank of issue as well; and should, of course, be ex- 
tended by branches established in every convenient and 
suitable part of the Republic. President Lamar, who fol- 
lowed President Sam Houston, endorsed the scheme of the 
National Bank based on the credit and national resources of 
the state. This movement was finally thwarted by the 
killing of a pig belonging to a hotelkeeper in Austin. As 
some one said at the time: "The cackling of geese saved 
Rome, but the squealing of a pig doomed the Bank of Texas 
and seriously damaged the credit of the infant Republic." 

To promote the enterprise James Hamilton was sent to 
France to float $7,000,000 of Texas bonds. Knox's ''His- 
tory of Banking in the United States" tells the remainder 
of the story: 

" While negotiations were pending in France, Fate was fighting against 
them in Texas, in the shape of a herd of swine owned by an Austin hotel- 
keeper. The French Minister, M. de Sahgney, had a fine horse. The 
pigs found their way into the stable and ate the corn dropped from the 
manger. The French servant, driving them out, killed one. IMr. 
Bullock, the owner of the pigs, at once registered his resentment by giving 
the servant a sound thrashing. M. de Saligney complained to the Texas 
Government. Mr. Bullock was arrested and pending trial was released 
with the Secretary of the Texas Treasury on his bond. M. de Saligney 
happened in the hotel. Mr. Bullock ejected him. Another complaint, 
another arrest, and another release, with the Treasurer as bondsman. 
The matter had by this time grown from its first proportions as a per- 
sonal disagreement and became a matter of public importance. It was 
everywhere discussed, in the newspapers, on the streets, and in Congress. 
Every one upheld INIr. Bullock and his pigs. The Government actually 
sent to France and asked the recall of the French Minister. Thus the 
thing became of international moment. It happened that M. de Salig- 
ney was closely related to the French Minister of Finance, with whom 
rested the consummation of the loan which was to lift Texas out of her 
financial troubles and put her National Bank on foot. Negotiations 



BANKING 287 

were abruptly broken ofY. What the results would have been had that 
loan been made, one can only conjecture." 

Again in recent years the ghost of the Bank of the Re- 
pubhc has reappeared, being fostered this time by Governor 
O. B. Colquitt. He proposed the chartering of a Bank of 
Texas with $33,000,000 capital to be obtained partly by 
pledging the bonds held by the state public free schools, 
partly by utilizing the resources of the State Treasury, and 
partly by employing one-half of the cash reserves of all 
state banks. The scheme met with some favor, but seems 
now to have been abandoned. 

The conditions under which banks in the early days of 
Texas were operated may be gathered from some reminis- 
cences of F. M. Getzendaner of Waxahachie: 

"Money to meet exchange was at first sent to Bryan by friends to be 
sent thence by express to the First National Bank of Houston, and by it 
to where we might direct to remote sections of the United States. It 
was not long, however, before a correspondent at Galveston and a little 
later in New York was established. But what worried most was to get 
the funds to Bryan. It was about 170 miles distant. There being no 
railroad or express office, it had to be carried by friends or teamsters 
going down, and the awful 'dead line' had to be crossed in going there. 
The 'dead line' was a certain region south of Owenville infested at the 
time by robbers and murderers, and no one dared to cross it if it were 
known that he carried money ; so, whether friends carried the funds as a 
favor or for a compensation, we never slept well till advised that the 
money got through. Here I may divert to say that on a certain occasion 
Col. B. J. Chambers of Cleburne called for some considerable pieces 
of exchange on Galveston, stating that he feared to carry so much money 
on his person through the country to Bryan. He was going to Galveston. 
The exchange was drawn and given to him. That same evening the 
writer incidentally met him at the hotel and in confidence asked him if 
he would take a package of valuable papers to Ball, Hutchings & Co., at 
Galveston. He cheerfully assented to do so and in the morning the 



288 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

valuable package was handed him and he carried and delivered it in 
Galveston. In that package was the money to pay his draft and more. 
I don't think the Colonel was ever advised of the imposition. Another 
man carried some several thousand dollars in gold. He stayed all night 
at Horn Hill and placed the bag under his pillow. He got a mile or so 
on his way the next morning before he thought of it. He hastened back 
to his room and found it undisturbed. Of course if the friends had been 
unfortunate enough to lose these packages, the loss would have been ours. 
Such risks made exchange high, and at times made the bankers uneasy. 

"As stated, our capital was small, but some friends who had received 
some money from the old states offered to lend it and we borrowed. We 
could then make limited short time notes at, say 5 per cent, per month 
interest. Some of our bankers now loan round amounts with adequate 
backing at 5 or 6 per cent, per annum. But at this time money in hand 
was worth more than I ever saw it before or have ever seen it since or 
will ever see it again. 

" A friend sought and obtained the loan of a thousand dollars in gold 
for one month. He did not meet his paper at maturity as was usual 
then, but in two months came in and paid the interest and asked for 
more time which was granted. He held that money for twelve months 
and then paid it up. After doing so, I asked him how he could afford to 
keep the money so long at such a rate of interest. 'Easy enough,' said 
he. 'You know my business is to haul freight and to barter between 
here and the depot at Bryan. I made 10 per cent, on the money every 
month, and I simply divided profits with you.' 

" Again a party borrowed some three hundred dollars for thirty days. 
At the end of fifteen days he came in and called for his note. It was 
suggested that he use the money for the whole time. 'No,' said he, 'I 
have doubled the money and I pay now.' 

"There were bad men abroad in the land in those early days. A 
noted outlaw with a squad of men held the Trinity bottoms about the 
mouth of Red Oak Creek, and later on another one and a band of men 
succeeded them; all desperate men hiding from the military cfr other 
officers of the state. 

"Robbery, thieving, or even murder were common. The people lived 
in an atmosphere of dread. Farmers who happened to have safes moved 
them away or left them wide open as evidence that no valuables were 
inside. One or two six shooters would be found in every bank or ex- 
change office, and a resolute man slept there every night. Our safe was 
said to be fireproof, but I doubt it, and a skilled burglar in its opening. 



BANKING 289 

by knocking to pieces or digging through its walls, would not require 
more than twenty-five minutes. An attack at any time day or night 
would not have been much of a surprise. 

"One morning before breakfast a fine-looking man, six feet tall, called 
at the office and remarked tliat he wanted to make a deposit. I counted 
in say ten thousand dollars in greenbacks and some thousands in gold, 
counted till my back hurt, and was alarmed that we were to be responsi- 
ble for and burdened with so much money. At his request certificates 
of deposit for both amounts were issued, embracing in one certificate the 
gold and in the other the currency. Separate accounts for the different 
kinds of money were kept. That same day later in the morning another 
man called and wanted to buy cattle and wished to sell New York ex- 
change to the amount of ten or twelve thousand dollars. He was a 
stranger, could not identify himself, and as much-as we wanted the ex- 
change we declined to purchase it. 

"In, say, three nights the writer, who slept in the office, was aroused 
by a loud knocking at the door about one o'clock, and, instead of a bur- 
glar or robber, June Peak of Dallas was found at the door. He asked 
about the two men mentioned above, described them, and said that 
although apparently entire stranger's to each other, they were partners 
in a great swindle; that they had sold exchange in Fort Smith, in Sher- 
man, and later in Dallas, to T. C. Jordan & Co., to the amount of seven 
thousand dollars. These drafts wtere raised from small sums; that he 
was at the instance of the Dallas firm running them do^m and would 
go day and night till he got them. He requested that I hold the deposit 
they had made till Jordan came down; and then went on. Through the 
aid of the military at Waco, he soon overtook and captured the men at 
Belton and brought them back to Waco, where the United States Mili- 
tary held them. Subsequently they were tak'en to Dallas and in some 
way escaped from the jail there. A prominent law firm of Waco was 
employed as attorneys, the certificates endorsed to them, which certifi- 
cates upon presentation in about four weeks were paid. I sympathized 
with Jordan and would have been glad to have held the money for him, 
but I could not upon proper presentation of the certificates by that law 
fiirm refuse payment. Jordan, I was informed, recovered some of the 
money. 

"The difficulties and risk of placing money with correspondents, the 
danger at all times of robbers, thieves, and highwaymen were ever present. 
The remote localities and bad roads, bridges and lack of easy communi- 
cation made each bank a factor by itself, standing isolated and alone. 



290 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

and beyond the help of other banks, no matter what the emergency. 
Thus the panic of 1873 was scarcely felt in this section. It took about 
two weeks to get a letter from New York; and sometimes when streams 
were up, it took two weeks, and on one occasion about a month, to get 
Galveston mail. 

"The bank building was a lawyer's office double-room wooden struc- 
ture, a janitor unknown, clerks, probably one; no heavy ledger nor other 
books; no blanks; none of those thousand and one other helps now con- 
sidered necessary in banks. It was a ground start, and the banker ruled 
his blank books to suit himself, kept his funds in his own good way, and 
managed his business in his own peculiar manner, developing it always 
to meet conditions as they might arise, as his plant grew in stature. 

"Our office or bank was situated a little distance from the public 
square. To make the situation of the bank known, a large sign with the 
word ' Bank ' was nailed to the porch, so as to be seen from the square. 
One summer evening the writer sat upon the porch as three cowboys 
passed along. One of them, noticing the sign, spelled 'B-A-N-K, bank! 
That's a hell of a looking bank!' That did not admit of denial." 

The constitutional inhibition against all incorporated 
forms of state banking was finally stricken out by a vote of 
the people held in 1904. After protracted legislative fights 
and much public discussion, under the leadership of Mr. 
Thomas B. Love of Dallas, afterward the first Commissioner 
of Banking of Texas, the necessary amendment was adopted 
and Texas was freed from its anomalous position of opposi- 
tion to incorporated state banks. The state banking law 
went into effect August 14, 1905. Under its operation 
banks at once opened in many small towns unable to sup- 
port a national bank. The law provides that in towns con- 
taining less than 2,500 population the capital stock of a bank 
must be $10,000 or more; in towns of a population less than 
10,000, $25,000 or more; less than 20,000, $50,000 or more; 
more than 20,000 population, $100,000 or more. Special 
provision is made for the organization of banks and trust 



BANKING 291 

companies, or trust companies. These institutions are 
required to carry paid up capital stock ranging from $50,000 
to $10,000,000, except that in cities containing more than 
20,000 inhabitants such institutions are compelled to have a 
paid up capital stock of not less than $100,000. Other 
requirements imposed on state banking institutions are 
not very dissimilar to those under which national banks ope- 
rate. The same law authorizes the establishment of savings 
banks, with capital ranging from $10,000 to $5,000,000. 
Extra protection is thrown around depositors in savings 
banks, in that it is unlawful to invest more than 85 per cent, 
of the deposits. It is required that all savings accounts be 
kept separate and distinct from other accounts in the banks. 
It is rather remarkable that the law has been in force and 
effect in Texas for more than ten years and that not one 
savings bank has been organized under its provisions. 
Texas is absolutely, so far as the records show or investi- 
gation can determine, without an incorporated savings bank, 
except as an accessory either to a state bank or to a national 
bank. Thirty of the state banks have savings departments, 
with total deposits on November 30, 1915, in excess of 
$3,000,000. Many national banks of Texas also having 
savings departments, though Texans are very backward 
as savings bank patrons. Mr. Gossett, Deputy Commis- 
sioner of the State Banking Department, thinks that the 
people of Texas are not yet educated up to the idea of 
hoarding money in this particular manner; he thinks, 
further, that j^robably the banks are somewhat at fault in 
that they have not sufficiently recommended to their 
customers the wisdom of small savings. 



292 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

In July, 1913, a law went into effect attempting to do 
for the people in the rural districts what the small state 
banks were doing in the villages. This act made it possible 
to incorporate rural credit unions "for the purpose of pro- 
moting thrift among its members and to enable them, when 
in need, to obtain for productive purposes moderate loans 
of money for short periods at moderate rates of interest." 
Any ten persons are empowered to form a rural credit union 
and sell shares of stock at $25 each, receive deposits, and 
loan money. No loan can be made for more than $200, for 
a longer period of time than eight months, and no note can 
be renewed except for a smaller sum. This act is also 
largely a paper measure, only one "Union," located at Fort 
Worth, having been incorporated under its terms. As this 
" Union" is only a few months old, its history is yet to be made. 

Within three months after the state banking law went into 
effect, twenty-nine banks, with deposits of nearly two mil- 
lions of dollars, were in operation. A lapse of ten years has 
seen those twenty-nine banks increase to 867 banks, with 
total deposits exceeding $100,000,000. This growth has been 
accomplished with only seven bank failures — a truty 
remarkable record. In his report for 1913-1914, the State 
Banking Commissioner shows that the investments of 
the 867 state banks are divided as follows: ' 

Loans 77.3 per cent. 

Loans on real estate 12 

Stocks and bonds 4 

Banking houses, etc 5 

Real estate taken for debt 1.7 

Total 100 



BANKING 



293 



EXHIBIT OF STATE BANKS IN TEXAS SINCE THE SYSTEM 
WAS AUTHORIZED 

The following statistical table gives a complete exhibit of 
a decade of progress in state banking in Texas : 



DATE 






NO. OF GUARANTY 


LOANS & 


STOCKS & 




BANKS FUND 


DISCOUNTS 


BONDS 


9-30-05 


, . . 29 None 


$ 1,739,783.00 


$ 162,900.00 


10-31- 06 






136 None 


10,373,469.00 


150,500.00 


12-3-07 . 






309 None 


23,026,596.00 


516,500.00 


11-27-08 






340 None 


23,744,184.00 


747,050.00 


12-31-09 






515 None 


42,471,754.00 


1,248,030.00 


11-10-10 






621 368,900.00 


50,060,968.00 


2.397,568.00 


12-5-11 . 






688 45,6600.00 


59,931,043.00 


3,342,812.00 


11-26-12 






744 677,162.00 


71,288,282.00 


4,504,873.00 


10-21-13 






832 808,000.00 


91,541,228.00 


5,517,034.00 


12-31-14 






849 1,137,024.00 


88,069,200.00 


2,565,618.00 


REAL ESTAT 


E 


SURPLUS AND 




& BANKING 


EXCHANGE 


UNDIVIDED 




HOUSE 


AND CASH CAPITAIi 


PROFITS 


DEPOSITS 


$ 47,300.0 


$ 2,497,117.00 $ 1,809,000.00 $ 238,000.00 $ 


1,731,425.00 


483.676.0 


8,108,566.00 4,875.500.00 


523.000.00 


13,585,027.00 


1,560,287.0 


9,391,264.00 10,006,700.00 


1.139,500.00^ 


20,478,528.00 


2,079,796.0 


13,145,408.00 10,690,500.00 


1,638,303.00' 


27,014,970.00 


3,336,752.0 


24,377,586.00 16,128,500.00 


2,966,835.00 


50,472,661.00 


4,203,121.0 


27,333,054.00 20,197,500.00 


4,680,804.00 


61,667,949.00 


4,633,744.0 


26,641,973.00 23,520,500.00 


6,473,602.00 


63,488,857.00 


4,170,979.0 


48,247,899.00 27,302,000.00 


8,480,807.00 


100,889,246.00 


6,184,000.0 


36,982,176.00 32,576,500.00 


10.424,927.00 


100,224,400.00 


7,010,900.0 


23, 


727 


,070.00 32,514,000.00 


10,263,818.00 


77,335,970.00 



294 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

The ten largest state banks, or banks and trust companies, 
with their places of business, follow : 



NAilE 

*West Texas Bank & Trust Co., San Antonio 
Rio Grande Valley Bk. & Tr. Co., El Paso 
Bankers Trust Company, Houston 
Union Bank & Trust Companj', El Paso . 
Citizens Bank & Trust Company, Austin 
Texas Bank & Trust Company, El Paso . 

First State Bank, Dallas 

Central Trust Company, San Antonio . 
El Paso Bank & Trust Company, El Paso 
Dallas Trust & Savings Bank, Dallas . 



CAPITAL 

$ 250,000.00 
500,000.00 

2,000,000.00 
150,000.00 
125,000.00 
100,000.00 
250,000.00 

1,000,000.00 
100,000.00 
800,000.00 



SURPLUS 

$ 33,325.00 

139,219.63 

829,175.05 

42,473.73 

39,749.41 

51,417.54 

38,836.42 

124,268.22 

56,039.05 

215,680.87 



CASH 

^ 449,000.00 
612,000.00 
361,000.00 
1,053,280.00 
1,125,000.00 
770,000.00 
471,000.00 
250,000.00 
283,000.00 
139,000.00 



LOANS 

$1,587,000.00 

1,933,000.00 

4,037,000.00 

715,000.00 

578,000.00 

836,000.00 

1,155.000.00 

1,957,000.00 

955,000.00 

883,000.00 



DEPOSITS 

$2,846,000.00 
2,745,000.00 
1,753,000.00 
1,690,000.00 
1,611,000.00 
1,613,000.00 
1,415,000.00 
1,255,000.00 
1,120,000.00 
1,087,000.00 



The passage of the state bank guaranty law, which went 
into effect January 1, 1910, is certainly a large factor in the 
solidarity of the state banking system of Texas. Under its 
operation every state bank safeguards its depositors either 
by bond or through a depositors' guaranty fund. The 
latter provision requires every bank to set aside one-fourth 
of 1 per cent, of its average daily deposits for the previous 
year, one-fourth of which is to be paid in cash to the State 
Treasurer, the balance to be deposited to the credit of the 



*The West Texas Bank & Trust Company has failed since this chapter was written. 



BANKING 295 

guaranty fund. When the state guaranty fund reaches 
the sum total of two milhons of dollars, no further payments 
are required until the amount again falls below this sum. 
New banks must set aside 3 per cent, of their capital and sur- 
plus. Banks preferring the system of giving bond are re- 
quired to execute a bond equal to the amount of their capital 
stock. The law is enforced through a State Banking Board, 
consisting of the Commissioner of Banking, the Attorney- 
General, and the State Treasurer. This Board has extraor- 
dinary powers. For example, they may investigate and 
pass upon the personnel of bank officers, and decline to ap- 
prove a charter on the prior record of these men. The Board 
has also power to close and liquidate bants, and, through 
the operation of the law, a number of banking institutions 
have been liquidated quietly without loss to the depositors. 
In case of bank failure the depositors are paid first, the guar- 
anty fund being used to make up whatever amount of cash 
is necessary to pay each depositor promptly and in full. 

Both plans of guaranteeing depositors were made ap- 
plicable to national banks; notwithstanding, the national 
banks of Texas, because of Federal control, cannot operate 
under the law. The influence of these banks in the legisla- 
ture was strong enough, however, to prevent special adver- 
tising of the guaranty features. The law provides that no 
guaranty bank may advertise this feature except with the 
stereotyped statements: "The non-interest bearing and 
unsecured deposits of the bank are protected by the de- 
positors' guaranty fund of the State of Texas"; or, "The 
depositors of this bank are protected by guaranty bond 
under the laws of this state." Within less than four years 



296 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

after the guaranty law went into effect the number of state 
banks had increased 68 per cent., or from 515 to 867. At 
the same time during the same years the paid up capital 
increased ll^ per cent. Sixty-two banks, or 7.12 per cent., 
gave bonds equal to the amount of their capital stock in- 
stead of becoming a part of the guaranty system. In case 
of the failure of any of these banks the indemnity accrues 
to the benefit of the depositors. The failures of banks under 
this system, seven in number up until September 12, 1914, 
afforded a net loss to the contributing banks of $116,427.21. 
At the time this is written all of the affairs of the failed in^ 
stitutions have not been settled, and the amount of loss will 
likely be much reduced. 

The field work of enforcing the state banking laws is in 
the hands of eighteen examiners, who are paid a salary of 
$2,000 each and travelling expenses. The law requires each 
examiner to be an expert bookkeeper and accountant, with 
five years' practical experience as a banker. One examiner 
is assigned on the average to forty banks. The fees charged 
banks for examination have thus far much more than paid 
the entire expenses of the system. 

Unquestionably a possibility of danger in the state bank- 
ing system — a possibility that is ever present — is political 
interference with its management. The Governor appoints 
the Banking Commissioner, and he in turn appoints the 
office force and the eighteen examiners. Be it said to the 
credit of the system in its operations up to the present, that, 
however appointments have been influenced, capable, ef- 
ficient, and honest men have served as officers. Some of the 
examiners, on whose supervision certainly depends the sue- 



BANKING 297 

cess of the guaranty law, have held office since the law went 
into effect ; others have left the service only because of hand- 
some promotions. Seven failures in ten years, none for- 
tunately involving great sums, in a business of 800 units 
amounting to the large total of $136,000,000, is certainly 
an exceptional record. In commenting on the failures 
Commissioner Patterson says: "It is a noticeable fact that 
of the seven banks closed by this Department, each failure 
was due largely or entirely to the misapplication of the bank's 
funds by its officers," a statement which brings to mind the 
declaration of an. Assistant Comptroller of the United States 
that no national bank has ever failed that had complied with 
the plain requirements of tli.e federal banking laws. The 
Banking Commissioner thinks that $20,000,000 could be 
easily added to the deposits of state banks were they allowed 
to advertise properly the guaranty feature, though he de- 
clares, even under this handicap, "the growth has been 
remarkable." And in this judgment many wdll agree. 
Since the beginning of the guaranty fund six years ago, 
twenty-three state banks have "nationalized," and thirty 
national banks have taken out state bank charters. Though 
national banks have grown steadily during this period, they 
naturally look with no altogether unselfish longing at the 
one hundred millions deposit account secured by tKeir rivals. 
In addition to the guaranty feature, another distinct 
service of the state banking system is due to the fact that 
banking facilities are more available to the people of small 
towns and villages. According to the latest published re- 
port, 249 banks had been located in towns of less than 2,500 
inhabitants, and 590 in towns of less than 5,000 inhabitants. 



298 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

These numerous small financial units, widely scattered, 
not only bring the conveniences of the city to the doors of 
country people, but they without doubt add financial solidar- 
ity to the entire system. Indeed, the special work of state 
banks would seem to be in this field, and here is where its 
success will win the most general public favor. 

Galveston, as seems proper, is the home of the first na- 
tional bank chartered in Texas. Its name, too, is appro- 
priate: The First National Bank, chartered September 15, 
1865; and its fitness has been further demonstrated by the 
fact that the fifty years of its life have been unattended by 
change of name or place and without financial disaster. It 
has been common for Texas banks, especially those located 
in the cities, through amalgamations or purchase, to lose 
their original charter name. Three other national banks 
were chartered in 1866. The number in 1915 is 535. In- 
dividual deposists have grown during the same period from 
$626,000 to $185,000,000. Texas had in her Christmas 
bank stocking December 25, 1915, nearly $300,000,000, 
or more than $60 for each man, woman, and child, including 
half a million pickaninnies. 

Of the ten largest national banks in Texas, seven have a 
capital of $1,000,000 or more, three with deposits exceeding 
$10,000,000, none with a cash balance of as much as 
$5,000,000, and none with loans amounting to as much as 
$10,000,000. Wiile the tendency to combine everywhere 
noticeable in the United States is not absent in Texas, the 
state has not as yet developed any overgrown, haughty, 
and powerful bank that lays down the law to the smaller fry, 
as do one or two concerns in the neighborhood of Wall Street. 



BANKING 299 

This table shows the ten national banks of Texas carrying 
the largest deposit accounts. The figures are in thousands 
of dollars: 

Capital Surplus Cash Loans Deposits 

Amer. Exch. Nat'l Bank, Dallas . . $1,500 $1,000 $4,570 $9,835 $12,710 

So. Tex. Com. Nat'l Bank, Houston . 

First Nat'l Bank, Houston 

Security Nat'l Bank, Dallas 

Union Nat'l Bank, Houston 

City National Bank, Dallas 

Ft. Worth National Bank, Ft. Worth . 

First National Bank, Ft. Worth . . 

Houston Nat'l Exch, Bank, Houston . 

American Nat'l Bank, Austin ... 300 600 2,022 2,601 4,027 

The table which follows exhibits the story of Texas na- 
tional banking in five-year periods. The growth has been 
continuous and the periods of panics, except the financial 
storm of 1893, are not apparent from the figures which are 
in thousands of dollars: 



1,000 


1,000 


3,435 


8.073 


10,325 


2,000 


400 


3,011 


9,051 


10,048 


1,500 


500 


2,584 


7,564 


8,184 


1,000 


400 


3,476 


4,477 


7,958 


1,000 


1,000 


2,746 


6,803 


7,647 


COO 


1,000 


2,615 


5,218 


6,776 


1,000 


400 


2,328 


4,906 


6,125 


400 


100 


2,081 


3,508 


4,907 



Yean 


No. of 
Banks 


Loans 
and dis- 
counts 


u. s. 

Bonds 


Cash, 

and cash 

items 


Capital 


Surplut 


Undivided 
profits 


Out- 
standing 
circulation 


Individual 
deposits 


1866 


4 


$209 


$439 


$439 


$428 


$4 


$36 


$170 


$626 


1873 


7 


1,180 


1,025 


699 


925 


180 


79 


670 


1,044 


1878 


11 


1,508 


825 


687 


1,050 


296 


76 


533 


1,516 


1883 


43 


10,099 


1,927 


2,200 


3,653 


1,049 


683 


.,462 


8,003 


1888 


100 


24,689 


8,034 


4,033 


11,806 


2,777 


1,129 


2,313 


15,785 


1893 


222 


44,828 


5,549 


6,064 


23,596 


4,938 


2,332 


4,611 


25,748 


1898 


196 


42,838 


6,107 


7,000 


19,205 


5,230 


2,171 


4,419 


37,895 



1903 369 87,965 12,499 11,591 27,577 9,105 6,367 10,646 71,381 
1908 535 113,259 26,714 23,198 40,868 18,081 7,889 24,041 115,840 
1915 535 217,516 41,427 25,494 54,022 27,184 12,851 89,265 185,092 

The anti-banking provision in the constitution and its 
attendant prejudice made the gi-owth of national banks slow 
in Texas. Only three were chartered and survived from 



300 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

1866 to 1873, while four opened for business during the next 
five-year period. In 1878 Texas contained eleven national 
banks. Five years later the number had increased to 
forty -three, the deposits increasing from $1,500,000 to 
$8,000,000. This rapid growth received a slight backset 
following 1893, a period during which a number of small 
banks were forced to close, though in many cases their 
assets were entirely sufficient and sound. Wall Street had 
the cash and refused to ship it inland either because they 
did not have the money or for reasons not disclosed. Even 
a large bank in Austin, carrying 56 per cent, of its deposits 
in ready cash, suffered uneasy moments during the days 
of unusual financial distrust. At that time the clearing- 
house device was not common in Texas and each bank went 
alone. The little fellows, in particular those who had not 
foreseen the storm, could not weather it. Although the 
number of banks decreased from 222 in 1893 to 196 in 1898, 
the total deposits increased for the same period more than 
$12,000,000. Texas people did not blame the banks for 
the panic, perhaps partially for the reason that no depositor 
was inconvenienced. The practice of limiting the amount 
that could be checked out in one day was not introduced 
until 1907. Many people yet believe that the banking 
troubles of that year were deliberately precipitated by 
New York bankers who withheld the deposits of Texas banks 
as well as their customary loans when the money was most 
needed. Clearing-house arrangements and the limits placed 
on checking both steadied the Texas situation, and few bank 
failures resulted. Friends of the Reserve system believe 
that in the future Texas banks will not be so dependent on 



BANKING 301 

New York. That, however, yet remains on the knees of the 
gods. Texas national banks have in times of strong demand 
for money in New York loaned through their correspondents 
many millions of money in that city. In 1912 an Austin 
bank had at one time outstanding New York call loans 
amounting to $1,500,000. Since 1913 all Texas money has 
been needed for Texas projects, and Texas banks are gener- 
ally very particular to care for, first of all, their own people. 

Statistics of the number of savings departments in con- 
nection with national banks are not available. According 
to the estimate of Mr. Gossett of the State Banking De- 
partment, the total savings deposits in all Texas banks will 
not exceed $15,000,000, an amount far below the savings 
deposits of other states of equal wealth. 

While there has been no recent increase in the number of 
national banks in Texas, despite the popularity of the state 
guaranty system and its marvellous growth, no lack of con- 
fidence is felt by the people in the banks supposed to be 
backed by Uncle Sam. From 1908 to 1915 the deposits of 
535 national banks had increased $70,000,000. That tells 
the whole story. 

Under "An Act concerning private corporations," passed 
by the Reconstruction legislature in 1871, a number of 
state banks, known as "Special Charter" banks, were or- 
ganized, six of which are yet operating, in each instance 
as national banks; several other banking establishments 
still run under the old state charters. Although re- 
quired by law to report to the Secretary of State, only 
one of these banks, the Fannin County National Bank, 
made reports with any regularity. The Constitution of 



302 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

1876 reenacted the provision forbidding all state banks, 
though, under Article XVI providing that "the rights of 
property and of action which have been acquired under the 
constitution and laws of the Republic and State shall not 
be divested," all the Reconstruction period banks were left 
unmolested. In fact, the state has paid little or no attention 
to them. Too much respect for the constitution has, in 
many instances, resulted in downright suffering to the people, 
for some of the most disastrous bank failures in Texas have 
been instances of those operated under the special practi- 
cally unrestricted state charters. These failures, and the 
suffering that followed in their train, illustrate the wisdom of 
impartial, rigid, and constant supervision of such public 
enterprises as banks. If the "Reconstruction" state banks 
of Texas have not been in reality outlaw banks, they have 
been beyond the law, for the law took no cognizance of them ; 
and their history and the record they have left behind them 
has in many cases been quite as malodorous as other legis- 
lative action of the deplorable days of Reconstruction. 

While Texas until 1905 prohibited by the constitution all 
chartered state banks, it left the way open for the operation 
of as many private banks as the people's patronage would 
allow to live. Information is necessarily lacking about the 
progress of the many private banks (each must display 
prominently the word "Unincorporated"). The ' jT^ o-a^ 
Bankers' Journal estimates the present number at 181; the 
Commissioner of Banking thinks not more than 150 are 
doing business. Such private banking houses as Sealy, 
Hutchings & Co., Galveston; W, L. Moody & Co., Gal- 
veston; Giddings & Giddings, Brenham, and others have 



BANKING 803 

enjoyed long and prosperous careers and continue to possess 
the confidence of a large clientage. The total amount of 
the capital and deposits of these banks is a matter of con- 
jecture. The law takes no cognizance of them more than 
it would of any ordinary business concern. 

Texas as a banking centre first won distinct national 
recognition when Dallas was chosen over New Orleans as 
the location of one of the twelve National Reserve Banks. 
At that time 56d banks carried deposits in Dallas banking 
houses totalling $10,756,000. Dallas was able to show to 
the locating committee of the Reserve Bank her superior- 
ity as a trade centre over New Orleans, at the same time 
her claims for recognition comparing quite favorably with 
those of St. Louis and Kansas City. Some of the statis- 
tical arguments presented in support of the ambition of the 
Texas city, showing the trend of trade, are of unusual in- 
terest and may be found in the Chapter on the "Trade of 
the Cities." 

With a Reserve Bank located in the heart of the black 
waxy belt in its chief commercial centre, embracing in its 
territory the entire state, Texas has won its rightful place 
as the most important unit in the commerce and finance of 
the Southwest. Of hardly less importance is the fact that 
its bigness has all been embraced in a single financial unit, 
thus giving an initial impulse to another force that will tend 
to keep Texas one and indivisible. 



CHAPTER II 

THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 

"There's been a lot to say about the man behind the gun, 
And folks have praised him highly for the noble work he done; 
He won a lot of honor for the land where men are free — 
It was him that sent our enemies kitin ' back across the sea. 
But he's had his day of glory, had his little spree, and now 
There's another to be mentioned — he's the man behind the plow." 

N COMMON with nearly every other state in the Union, 
the farmers of Texas, since the early seventies, have 
taken part in a succession of organizations whose pur- 
poses were to make farming more profitable and country 
life more attractive. In Texas the predominance of the 
farming industry lends added importance to the story 
of these movements. The Grange, or Patrons of Hus- 
bandry, the Farmers' Alliance, the Agricultural Wheel, and, 
finally, the Farmers' Union, have each at some time num- 
bered thousands of members and exercised considerable influ- 
ence, particularly on politics in Texas. It is difficult to set out 
an estimate of the sum total of the things the organizations 
have accomplished, but a few will later on be mentioned. 
The Farmers' Union, with depleted numbers, is yet active in 
the state. The Alliance succeeded the Grange, absorbed the 
Agricultural Wheel, and passed away, leaving behind an 
Alliance flour mill at Denton, Texas, and other relics in 
name only, while the Grange is said to have yet a local or- 
ganization in one county. But all three organizations have 

304 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 305 

made their impress on the poHtical and economic life of the 
state. The farmers have been finding themselves, and, 
while their associations have been marked with lamentable 
failures, the agricultural classes have at the same time made 
progress, and have left undoubted evidence of good work, as 
shown in constructive reform measures, which, largely 
through their influence, have been enacted into law. At 
the same time, their cooperative business ventures, result- 
ing in most cases in failures, have secured better treatment 
from merchants, and criticisms^ of railroad rates have 
proved beneficial to corporations and have led and are 
leading to a wide variety of reforms. 

With its war cry of " Cooperation and Down with Monop- 
olies!" the State Grange was organized at Dallas, Texas, 
October 7, 1873, with fourteen delegates present. Only a 
small number of local Granges existed in Texas at that time, 
though by January the number had increased to fifty -five; 
while in April following, when the State Grange met for its 
second meeting in Austin, Worthy Master W. W. Lang of 
Marlin reported an additional three hundred organizations. 
One hundred and twenty-one delegates, representing a 
membership of possibly twelve thousand, attended this 
meeting, among whom were the men who seem to have had 
most to do with the progress of the order in Texas. Chief 
among them were W. W. Lang, for seven years at the head 
of the Grange, and A. J. Rose of Salado, who after filling 
various subordinate positions succeeded to the Worthy 
Mastership. The secretary reported 1,184 active Granges 
in 1878, or nearly 50,000 individual members — all in Texas. 

The minutes of the State Grange from 1873 to 1895, when 



306 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

the treasurer reported a balance of $10.97 only, tell the story 
of its rise and decline and at the same time disclose what the 
order was attempting to do. A recital of some of the more 
important recommendations repeatedly urged shows that 
the failure of the Granger movement in Texas did not mean 
that no good was accomplished. The Grange consistently 
opposed discrimination in rates, rebates, the promiscuous 
granting of free passes and other injustices practised by the 
railroads. A Railroad Commission now controls railroad 
rates, and free passes and rebates are prohibited by law. 
For a number of years following its organization, the Agri- 
cultural and Mechanical College paid little attention to 
instructing its students in agriculture and the mechanic 
arts. An indignant report made at one of the weekly meet- 
ings of the Grange says that "eighty-three boys are studying 
liatin and Greek, only three are studying agriculture." Re- 
peated resolutions and wide publicity by the Grange doubt- 
less helped to make the instruction of the school more prac- 
tical. At the present time students in agriculture are largely 
in the majority. The State Grange also first recommended 
the establishment of a special school for training young wo- 
men in the domestic arts. Texas now has a well-equipped 
College of Industrial Arts for women at Denton, and the 
classes in these subjects are crowded with students. Even 
in the early eighties the State Grange each year resolved 
that agriculture should be taught in the rural schools. A 
state law at present provides such instruction. Likewise, 
the uniform text-book law, for more than a decade in oper- 
ation in Texas, was fathered by the Grange. The farmers 
of Texas, like most people, dislike to pay taxes. Continu- 




Henry Exall 

Founder of tlie Texas Iiuiustrial Congress for encouraging conservation of the soil 

and increased crop production 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 307 

ally they condemned all forms of oppressive taxation, par- 
ticularly the tariff and the taxes on growing crops or unsold 
crops. The latter tax was abolished in Texas as a result 
of the Grange's insistent demand. 

When 50,000 farmers, through their representatives, 
spoke their mind on political matters in Texas, the poli- 
ticians soon came to pay attention. As soon as the mem- 
bers of the Grange realized this fact it gave them courage to 
express themselves, directed their attention to affairs of 
public moment, provoked discussions at their meetings, 
and proved of great educational value to people who might 
otherwise have remained uninformed on current political 
questions. Probably the greatest advantage the Grange 
possessed for its members was the opportunity its weekly 
meetings gave for social intercourse. The local lodge meet- 
ing, held perhaps at some lonely schoolhouse, was often 
made the occasion for an all-day picnic. People came for 
miles, bringing their entire families. During the secret 
exercises curtains were spread over the windows and the 
children and non-members were excluded. The discussions 
and literary exercises were, however, open to all, and at 
noon tlie contents of large lunch baskets were spread on the 
grass under the trees outside of the building. To many 
people the Grange served as the principal means of social 
intercourse with their neighbors. 

The Grange, moreover, was of practical benefit to many 
of its members who patronized or took stock in cooperative 
stores fostered by the order in Texas. The most successful 
enterprise of this character was a wholesale storage and 
cotton factor's business operated at Galveston under the 



808 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

managership, for most of the time, of J. S. Rogers. It 
started in 1878 with a paid up capital stock of less than $250. 
Eventually the entire $100,000 stock was taken, and the 
business amounted to over $500,000 a year, with net profits 
of $20,000. In 1887, in various localities in Texas, there 
were about 150 local cooperative stores affiliated with the 
Galveston enterprise, the total capital stock of which 
amounted to $750,000. In a single year (1885) the com- 
bined sales of these stores reached close to $2,000,000, from 
which profits amounting to $250,000 were divided among the 
stockliolders. These enterprises all failed, mainly for the 
reason that the principle of paying cash for goods, so ear- 
nestly recommended by all Grange literature, was not fol- 
lowed in practice. At Galveston in a single year $40,000 
of bad debts was charged off, and the rapid decline of the 
business may be easily traced by the equally rapid increase 
of the bills payable and bills receivable accounts. 

The last report of the cooperative store at Galveston 
show^s debts owing to the business in the form of notes and 
open accounts amounting nearl}^ to $80,000 on an outstand- 
ing capital stock of $86,430. The profits for the year, al- 
though the sales had amounted to more than $100,000, were 
reported to be $143.87. Soon afterward the business was 
closed, and the various cooperative stores throughout the 
state not already suspended, suffered a like misfortune. 
The Texas Mutual Fire Insurance Association, after a 
career of ten years, in 1895 loaned its accumulated assets 
($10,024.95) at a low rate of interest to the Texas Coopera- 
tive Association in an attempt to save it. The final meet- 
ing of the Texas State Grange was held at Killeen, Texas, 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 309 

in 1895, with only twelve members present. A. J. Rose 
and his wife, A. M. Kellar, James L. Ray, and a few others 
who had been active in Grange work ahnost from its foun- 
dation were present to witness its demise. The committee 
on the good of the order reported sorrowfully: "It would 
seem that the Grange has grounded its arms; has been 
sleeping in the fort as a shield behind which the farmers of 
the state could protect themselves against the gigantic 
combines that are sapping the foundation upon which agri- 
culture rests," to which the Executive Committee added: 
"It sometimes seems that the farmers have surrendered 
■ — either to the monopolists or cranks." 

So we must say that the Grange failed to lift the farmers 
"out of the old paths where they have been so long journey- 
ing." And yet its downfall was not an entire failure. It 
did make a solid contribution to the education of the agri- 
cultural classes, and its work was taken up by others. Its 
immediate death was occasioned partly by the failure of 
its various enterprises which went down because they did 
not sell and buy goods for cash; partly because it was the 
victim of men who betrayed to use the order for selfish or 
political ends; partly because no definite limited program 
was attempted; partly because too little attention was 
devoted to methods of cultivating and enriching the soil, 
terracing, diversifying crops, and farm management, and 
too much attention to governmental affairs which had little 
or nothing to do with prosperity; partly because, as their 
reports repeatedly pointed out, the social and educational 
features of the local meetings were practically given up, the 
discussions becoming more and more devoted to questions of 



310 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

financial gain; and partly because of the rapid rise of the 
Farmers' Alliance movement. 

To illustrate the wide diversity of the resolutions pro- 
posed and debated at the state meetings of the Grange, at 
different times they resolved: to sell cotton only direct to 
the manufacturer; to send only farmers to the legislature; 
to quit purchasing for the public schools any books pub- 
lished by Harper & Co., and to substitute in their stead 
the books of D. Appleton & Co.; to establish a coopera- 
tive bank; to manufacture all implements used on the 
farm; to establish a state fair; to endow a newspaper; to 
plant only one-third of the crop in cotton; to forward farm 
products by the shiploads direct to England, and to pur- 
chase manufactured products in England by shiploads in 
return; to establish a life insurance company; to establish 
a fire insurance company; to erect cotton compresses on 
the lines of all the railroads; to limit the amount of cotton 
to be planted by tenants, vagrants, and convicts; to "make 
your farm self-supporting and the cotton will furnish the 
luxuries of life"; to establish a model experimental farm 
near the city of Austin; to buy only Texas-made wagons; 
to establish a Grange agricultural college; to limit and 
reduce the charges of physicians. The Texas Legislature 
was memorialized to regulate railroad rates; to require the 
Agricultural and Mechanical College to give practical in- 
structions in agriculture and mechanics; to pass a Sunday 
law; to teach agriculture in the common schools and col- 
leges; to adopt a uniform system of text-books; to remove 
the tax on the products of the land while in the hands of the 
producer; to rescind the grant of 3,000,000 acres of land 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 311 

paid for the erection of the State Capitol; to oppose a di- 
vision of Texas; to reduce the consumption of intoxicating 
Hquors; to protect the order from horse thieves; to adopt 
compulsory education; to adopt woman suffrage; to tax 
railroads for all outstanding stock; to enact an alien land 
law. The State Grange likewise demanded of Congress that 
Galveston be fortified and that its ports be deepened; that 
a heavy tax be levied on luxuries and removed from nec- 
essaries of life; that the Commissioner of Agriculture be 
made a Cabinet officer; that national banks be abolished; 
that a line of mail steamers be operated from Galveston to 
the South American states; that speculating in cotton fut- 
ures be prohibited. 

The foregoing list could be extended practically without 
limit. There was an undoubted educative value in con- 
sidering such widely diverse subjects, and lawmakers have, 
without question, been influenced through the publicity 
given to the c^uestions discussed. It is possible, however, 
that the order did weaken, in many instances, by being 
diverted from its original purpose, and it is more than 
probable that the introduction of political questions did not 
always produce harmony and good feeling. 

In 1879 the following report of the Committee on Horti- 
culture was adopted by the Texas State Grange: "In con- 
sequence of the various ways of both cultivation and prop- 
agation of fruits, errors are produced and the result often 
sold to the unsuspecting farmer to his detriment. Among 
these are the Blackman Plum and the Texas Hybrid Black- 
berry and others when not budded or grafted on their own 
species of roots, that are not congenial stocks, thus produc- 



312 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

ing often frauds and sometimes mules in vegetation with 
little or no seeds in them, thwarting nature's laws of re- 
production. While the pulp of the different species of 
seedless fruits may be of the very best quality, yet it is only 
reproduced by budding or grafting; therefore, 

"Resolved, That we recommend to Patrons of Hus- 
bandry that they buy no fruits that are experiments or 
frauds, and nothing but what has proved valuable. That 
we discountenance all stocks that are budded or grafted on 
entirely different stocks, such as the peach on the plum, the 
pear on the thorn, the pear on the apple roots, the apricot 
on the haw roots, the apple on the bois d'arc roots, and many 
other ways that are now being practised, because they are 
at best only experiments and may be frauds on the public. 
Our orchard fruits are our greatest health foods, and for 
this reason ever^^ Patron should have one. Our vegetable 
garden should be planted extensively so as to supply our 
need and should be cultivated well." 

The Farmers' Alliance, which became a national organi- 
zation with millions of members, and from which sprang 
the Populist party — a party which unseated Governors, 
Congressmen, and United States Senators — had its origin 
fifteen miles northeast of Lampasas, Texas, in 1874. The 
founders were a group of farmers and stockmen who first 
banded themselves together for mutual protection against 
cattle and horse thieves and land sharks. One of their 
first declarations of purposes stated that they had formed 
the organization "To assist the civil officers in maintaining 
law and order." Their constitution and ritual, even as 
finally revised, followed pretty closely similar Grange litera- 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 313 

ture. At first, however, the order mainly devoted itself to 
exterminating thieves. This work they did through the 
operation of two men known as "Great Smokeys," whose 
functions were sacredly secret, but which might easily be 
guessed. 

For five years the Alliance spread slowly and then was 
entirely suspended because of political jealousies among the 
members. In 1879 W. T. Baggett revived the organi- 
zation at Poolville, Parker County, Texas. The first State 
Alliance met at Jasper Creek, Jasper County, Texas, June 
12, 1880. The exercises of the state meeting consisted 
principally of reading lists of strayed stock, adopting an 
Alliance brand which was affixed to the jaw of the animal, 
and the routine of changing a constitution and electing 
officers. After a slow growth of six years an important 
meeting was held at Cleburne, Texas, in 1886, where eighty- 
six counties were represented. Some of the demands made 
at this meeting clearly indicate the early drift of the order: 
Congress was called on to prevent aliens from acquiring 
title to land, and to force aliens who had already acquired 
lands to relinquish them; to prevent the dealing in futures 
on all agricultural products; to put gold and silver on a 
parity and to pay the public debt; to substitute legal tender 
treasury notes for the issue of national banks; to establish 
a national bureau of labor statistics and to make the com- 
missioner of the bureau a Cabinet officer of the United 
States; to pass an interstate commerce law. Many re- 
forms in the state were likewise urged: that no person be 
allowed to purchase more than 320 acres of public school 
lands; that large bodies of land being held for speculative 



314 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

purposes should be rendered for taxation at the same rate 
as the sale price of the lands; that the Attorney-General 
rigidly enforce the laws of the State of Texas; that convicts 
should be confined within the prison walls; that corpora- 
tions pay their employees in lawful money; and that labor- 
ers be given a first lien on the products of their labors to 
the full extent of their wages. This meeting also declared 
that no person who owned any bank stock whatever should 
be allowed membership in the Alliance. A committee 
reported a plan for selling cotton in bulk through Alliance 
cotton yards. By the time the Alliance met again in 1887, 
at Waco, Texas, 3,500 local organizations were reported, 
with a total membership of more than 100,000. This re- 
markable growth had been secured under the leadership of 
C. W. Macune, who at that time, became State President. 
Under his leadership also the Waco meeting decided to 
nationalize the organization and appropriated $500 as a 
loan for beginning the work. The first national meeting 
was held the following year at Shreveport, La., with nine 
states participating. Mr. Macune became the first Na- 
tional President, an ofiice which he held until he was elected 
editor of the Alliance organ, the National Economist, pub- 
lished for a number of years at Washington, D. C. 

At the Cleburne meeting a resolution was passed calling 
on each Alliance in Texas to establish a cooperative store, 
cotton yard, and a lumber yard. As a result, many busi- 
ness enterprises throughout the state were organized with 
varying degrees of success. Some plunged immediately 
into financial disaster, while others lingered for several 
years. The general course of a successful business enterprise 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 315 

of this character was that the stock quickly passed into the 
hands of a few enterprising individuals who devoted such 
time to it as was necessary to take care of it properly. The 
result has been that the name "Alliance" still is known in 
Texas in connection with gins, mills, and similar business 
ventures. A large flour mill at Denton, for example, yet 
perpetuates the name. Another plan of the Alliance was 
to choose five men in each county who were expected to 
meet merchants and dealers and to effect trade arrange- 
ments with them at low figures for Alliance members. The 
trade committee on their part would agree that the trade of 
the entire ; membership would be concentrated and placed 
with one merchant. The weakness of this system lay in the 
fact that no special advantage accrued to the committee 
for doing this service, and not many individuals were public 
spirited enough to work for nothing for a long period of time. 
The booking of large lots of cotton for sale to single buyers 
was also disastrously unsuccessful, largely because of the 
business inexperience of the promoters and the further fact 
that as a class the farmers were afraid to trust such 
enterprises, even to one chosen from among their own 
numbers. The largest Alliance enterprise in Texas was 
the State Exchange, with headquarters at Dallas, which 
proposed to sell cotton and other farm products and to 
furnish the Alliance members of Texas with all supplies. 
This corporation has a capital stock of $500,000, only 
$36,000 of which was ever paid in. C. W. Macune and 
R. J. Sledge were placed in charge of the business in 1887, 
and had some success the first year in helping the farmers 
to market their cotton. During the following year the Ex- 



316 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

change proposed to advance supplies on farm products on 
a statement from the farmer showing the number of acres 
of land owned, its value and indebtedness, and the number 
of acres in cultivation. The statement further set out the 
amount planted in cotton, in grain, and the value of all live 
stock. On this simple statement the State Exchange, which 
was now lodged in a building costing $35,000 and having a 
paid up capital of about $56,000, advanced supplies aggre- 
gating $400,000. On an average the collateral value of the 
security was found to be about 40 per cent. The business, 
therefore, failed with a crash that shocked the entire State 
Alliance. The beautiful paper theory was unfitted to 
practical business conditions. About this time the Alli- 
ance, not only in Texas, but throughout the country, be- 
came hopelessly entangled with the Populist party — in 
fact, was merged into the Populist partj^^ — and the Farmers' 
Alliance, as the true and beneficial agency of the farmer 
class which it was organized to serve, became the football 
of politicians and was no more. Local organizations were, 
however, preserved and continued to act in different parts 
of Texas. 

An Alliance for negroes was organized at Lovelady, Texas, 
in 1886, by R. M. Humphrey, and spread rapidly over the 
South until it had a membership of more than a million. 
In Texas was established a number of business exchanges, 
the largest one being at Houston. Their course of financial 
disaster was even more rapid than had been similar projects 
among their white brethren. 

The Farmers' Union, still in operation in Texas, whose 
icope has also become nation-wide, was born in 1903 at 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 317 

Point, Rains County, succeeding the Farmers' Alliance. Ac- 
cording to the judgment of some of the men who have 
labored earnestly in its behalf, like the Grange and the 
Alliance, it has been unsuccessful in converting the splendid 
ideals of the organization into practical reforms. For the 
past several years the Texas Union has been steadily decreas- 
ing in numbers and in influence, and it now seems impossible 
to secure from its officials any reliable data concerning its 
present numbers. Until very recently its membership 
numbered many thousands in Texas and its annual meetings 
were largely attended. Internal dissensions, the partici- 
pation of its leaders in state politics, the disappointment 
of its members in failing to see quick results, the diversion 
of the movement to other interests, the common frailty 
of human selfishness, have all contributed to the decline 
of the organization. It may revive, though the opinion is 
common that its day of best usefulness is at an end. 

The first state meeting of the Farmers' Union was held 
in 1904, and local unions have now spread through- 
out many parts of the country, especially in the Southern 
States. Newt Gresham, a newspaper man, and N. C. 
Murray, now living in Fort Worth, were two of the men 
who controlled the organization's early fortunes. Mr. 
Fred W. Davis, at present State Commissioner of Agri- 
culture, was among the group of men who fostered the 
Farmers' Union in its palmy days in Texas. In what 
he claims the organization has done for the farmer it will 
be noticed that he stresses the political influence that 
has been brought to bear on the state and national govern- 
ments. It may be seriously doubted, whatever laws are 



318 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

passed, that legal enactments will afford the agricultural 
interests permanent good. No law will make a shiftless 
farmer diversify his crops, terrace his land, plow deep, or 
raise his own meat. The fundamental problems of teach- 
ing him to help himself and then through cooperation to 
help his neighbors, must come through the slower processes 
of education. Under a very well-conceived Texas law farm- 
ers may now organize themselves into money-loaning as- 
sociations for mutual uplift. They do not organize these 
associations. In other words, they do not trust each other. 
But let Mr. Davis tell what the Texas Farmers' Union has 
accomplished : 

"The Farmers' Union, in the first plaee, revived the efforts of the 
Grange and the Alhance in behalf of agricultural education and co- 
operation. The Union has taken an active part in many progressive 
movements that have been made by the state and nation. It took the 
initial steps toward the erection of cooperative warehouses in the South. 
The efforts made by the national government on warehouses were 
merely endorsements of the Union's work. It also originated the move- 
ment toward creating a better understanding between the growers and 
manufacturers of cotton, the first concrete result of the work being the 
meeting between the cotton growers and manufacturers held in the 
month of May, 190G, in the city of Washington, D. C. 

"The curbing of the wholesale gambling in cotton futures was ini- 
tiated by the Union, both in Texas and in the National Congress. The 
first effort to teach the growers how to class cotton was made by the 
Union, and the first school of this kind ever organized was at Dallas, 
Texas, in August, 1906, under the auspices of the Union. The teaching 
of cotton classing in the Agricultural and Mechanical College was sug- 
gested by the Union. On two different occasions, due primarily to the 
Union's efforts, reductions were made in the freight rates on cotton. 
In the hearings on this subject ex-Governor Hogg represented the Union. 

"In 1904, when cotton went to bed-rock prices, the Union did more 
than all other agencies combined in stopping the downward movement 
of the market, and millions of bales were held (estimated by Theodore 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 319 

Price at 4,000,000) until the price advanced from six cents to ten cents 
or better. This advance was accomphshed first by holding and second 
by reducing the acreage the following year something more than five 
million acres. In securing this reduction the Union played a leading 
part. 

"The Union took a leading part in the creation of the Texas Depart- 
ment of Agriculture. The author of the law (Nelson of Kaufman 
County) was a Union man. 

"The privilege of sending a man with one or more cars of perishable 
produce, to see that the same was properly iced and ventilated, and to 
divert the shipment in case it was not forwarded to the place originally 
designated, was secured primarily through the efforts of the Union. 
Cattlemen, banana shippers, and others have long enjoyed this privilege. 

"The Union has done much to arouse the press and the general public 
to the necessity of using governmental agencies in behalf of the farmers 
of the country. It especially deserves first credit in all the efforts made 
by the state and the nation in behalf of the cotton farmers of the South. 
The warehouse and marketing law is the outgrowth of the Union's work. 
The Union took up the extension of the uses of cotton with the National 
Departments of Agriculture, War, and Navy. Hearings were had be- 
fore President Roosevelt, Secretary of War Taft, Secretary of Agri- 
culture Wilson, and others, and promises of cooperation were received." 



It Is In the local Institute, however, still another farmers' 
organization fostered by the State Department of Agricul- 
ture, that the best practical work is done. Here the farmers 
of the neighborhood meet together periodically and dis- 
cuss the problems that arise in their localities, compare 
experiences, and take account of each other. These meet- 
ings of the local Institutes are productive of much good, 
according to popular report, fortified by the fact that 
the Institutes are constantly and rapidly increasing in 
number. They are not only serviceable In promoting 
the exchange of views and ideas, based on personal ex- 
perience, but they would be compensated for if they did 



320 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

nothing more than stimulate the social relations of the 
farmers. 

While the Farmers' Union still claimed the attention of 
the majority of the agricultural classes in Texas, another 
organization, the Texas Industrial Congress, was effected, 
which had for its leader and evangel Colonel Henry Exall 
of Dallas, who gave his time without salary to the prop- 
agation of a few ideas which have been of great help to 
the rural population of the state. Colonel Exall's central 
notion was not that the government was robbing the people 
(the old political slogan) but, as he put it, that "the farmers 
of Texas are starving the soil, and robbing our grandchil- 
dren." He, therefore, went over the state giving talks on 
soil fertility and how to preserve it, good seeds and how to 
select them, rapid and thorough cultivation, diversification 
of crops, etc. To stimulate interest and to give practical 
demonstration of what could be accomplished, he offered 
through his organization $10,000 in gold each year in cash 
prizes for the largest yield on a designated number of 
acres of a variety of crops. "If the contestants do not 
win a prize in gold," said Colonel Exall, "they will win 
golden experience which they can cash later on." In a 
single year fifteen thousand contestants entered for the 
various prizes offered. The beneficial results of these 
contests may be shown by the fact that in 1912 the general 
average per acre of various crops grown by the contestants 
was three times the state average. Year after year these 
contests were held, year after year Colonel Exall employed 
his entire time, and drafted too largely on his strength in 
his enthusiastic efforts to gain for the farmers larger net 



THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 521 

profits, and, therefore, better conditions in their homes and 
better opportunities for their children. He became a 
martyr to hia cause, dying suddenly in 1913. The influence 
of this one man, fired with all the fervor of a frontier min- 
ister, has probably contributed more to the welfare and 
progress of rural life in Texas than any other individual 
or associations of individuals. Besought to run for office, 
even the highest in the gift of the people, he would not 
draw away from his self-employed task. A bronze statue 
of him, heroic in size, should stand at the entrance of the 
Dallas Fair. 

It is to be noted that the farmer is in late years depend- 
ing less on such agencies as the Grange and Alliance, and 
looking more and more for aid from the Government. Even 
the Texas Industrial Congress collects money for its cash 
prizes from corporations and wealthy individuals and not 
from the farmer. Supplementing the large grants that 
come from the Department of Agriculture at Washing- 
ton, the state through its extension activities in the Uni- 
versity and the A. & M. College, the Experimental Station 
work, its own Department of Agriculture, and the Ware- 
house and ^Marketing Department, is spending unusually 
large sums to aid those who labor with the soil. Lecturers, 
scientists, teachers, work constantly and faitlifully, and 
it is an easy matter for the farming class to secure any 
reasonable legislation. The promoters of the Warehouse 
and Marketing law, passed in 1915 by the legislature, be- 
lieve that $'20,000,000 will be annually saved to the farm- 
ers of Texas through the adoption of the new plan of 
ginning and wrapping cotton, and that by cooperation 



322 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

in marketing, made possible by the warehousing system, 
another substantial saving can be brought about. It is 
likely, however, that years will elapse before the good 
advice of the managers of the Warehousing and Marketing 
Department will generally be observed. The best aid to 
the farmers must come from within, and his best friend is 
education and not legal enactments. The farmer plants 
too much cotton and grows too few hogs and too many dogs 
(there is said to be more dogs than hogs in Texas); he 
attempts to cultivate too much land; he is slow to act with 
his neighbors in marketing his products. These are his 
big problems; but changing him and solving his problems 
require both time and education. And, after all, no one 
else can do the work for him. The farmer isn't in truth 
so very bad off; and wherein he needs saving he must save 
himself. 

Much has been written in this book about the farmer, be- 
cause in Texas there are so many of him. By no means all 
of them are reformers or in need of reform. A large per- 
centage are prosperous and contented. They own bank 
stock, educate their children, and ride to church in auto- 
mobiles. Such men waste precious little time denouncing 
the government or listening to prejudiced or flattering 
appeals for votes from sky scraping orators. The Taft 
ranch near Corpus Christi, containing 100,000 acres in 
cultivation, 5,000 people, 25,000 head of live stock, four 
farms, where modern methods of cultivation are in vogue, 
does not ask for governmental aid. Nor does Billie Minter, 
who grew in an Austin backyard, on a plot of ground 10 x 20 
feet, 573 pounds of vegetables at a net profit of $28.32, or 



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THE GRANGER MOVEMENT 323 

$6,000 on an acre; nor would the average Mr. Farmer, we 
repeat, if he would stop ridiculing all new things, fighting 
road and school taxes, mortgaging his crops. Farmers 
are not the best people in the world, though they are as 
good as the best. Dishonesty, ignorance, immorality, 
laziness, exist in the country as well as the town. The 
farmer is the pillar of civilization because of his job, not 
because he is particularly meritorious. We are all mere 
mortals, after all, farmers included. 



CHAPTER III 

FARM TENANTRY 

"Texas has two hundred and thirty thousand tenant farmers. No more 
important question confronts the statesmen of this age than the bringing of 
our vast tillable areas into the absolute ownership of the man who will in person 
cultivate the soil. . . . Build the small home and the republic is safe. 
. . . Did you ever hear of a man taking his gun and defending his board- 
ing-house.^ • . . If m this country those who have and can do for others 
continue to lose sight of the great need of a homeless people, they are inviting 
trouble which may grow all too soon to a degree too serious to contemplate. 
. . . The number is increasing who demand that the government take 
control of the lands of the country. . . . The prevention of the growth of 
this idea . . . lies in the removal of the . . . necessity for such 
doctrines. Let those who rely upon the supposed security of property rights 
remember that no government right is more sacred than the integrity of the 
people who maintain that government." — Governor James E. Ferguson. 

IN MANUFACTURING, in mining, in transportation, 
and, to a less extent, in commerce, everybody knows 
that most of the workers are not owners but are serv- 
ing either for wages or salaries. Hence the dependence of 
so many townfolk upon the weekly pay envelope, hence 
much talk concerning the independence of the farmer toil- 
ing upon his own land and resting under the shade of his 
own vine and fig tree. Alas ! the farmer is often as depend- 
ent as any city dweller. The vine and the fig tree that he 
sits under (if perchance there be any to sit under) are often 
not his own; he owes his local merchant too much; his 
crop is mortgaged before it is raised; he pays high rates of 
interest; he neither buys nor sells under proper conditions. 
For these and other reasons he is becoming a tenant — or, 

324 



FARM TENANTRY 325 

worse, a "cropper" — with a rapidity that is the most un- 
pleasant feature in the economic hfe of Texas to-day. 

In round numbers, 810,000 males are engaged in agri- 
cultural work; 375,000 are classified as laborers, and the 
remaining 435,000 are about equally di\"ided between own- 
ers and tenants. The majority of those classified as laborers 
are probably the children of farmers, although more than 
$30,000,000 is paid annually to the farm hired maji. In 
other words, about one agricultural worker in four is a farm 
owner, one a farm tenant, and two farm laborers. 

Even the farm owner is somewhat burdened with a farm 
mortgage. On the average one farm out of three is mort- 
gaged to the extent of one-fourth of its value, the total 
mortgages amounting, however, to less than $100,000,000, 
about 4 per cent, of the value of all the Texas farms. 

The tenants, over 200,000 in number, fall into two fairly 
distmct classes, the real tenant and the "cropper." The 
real tenant furnishes his own tools and work animals and 
pays only a third or a fourth of the crop for rent. In rare 
cases he pays a cash rent and keeps all of his crop. The 
"cropper" depends upon his landlord for everything needed 
to raise the crop which is divided equally. He is virtually 
a hired laborer, and sometimes might be better off working 
for wages than rumiing the risk of crop failures. 

Too much importance can scarcely be attached to farm 
tenantry. Scarcely a generation divides to-day from the 
time when land was given away freely by the state to actual 
settlers. Yet already about half of our native white farm- 
ers are tenants ! It is rather strange that this vital question 
did not enter tlie political arena until the gubernatorial 



326 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

campaign of 1914 when it apparently affected many votes. 
In fact, tenantry received very little consideration from 
public men until Governor Ferguson, much to his credit, 
forcibly brought it to general public attention by making 
it his chief campaign issue. Having come into public 
consciousness, it is likely to remain there for a long time, 
since a complete cure seems to be impossible and even 
amelioration difficult. 

The improved land of Texas is at present cultivated as 
follows: 1,000,000 acres by negro owners; 2,000,000 acres 
by negro tenants; 15,000,000 acres by white and Mexican 
owners; 13,000,000 acres by white and Mexican tenants. 

Next to the negroes, native white Americans exhibit 
the largest percentage of tenantry. Messrs. Leonard and 
Naugle find after much investigation that in Texas the 
European farmer passes more rapidly from tenant to owner 
than the native American, and that a far larger proportion 
of the latter remain tenants permanently. The European 
farmer is not superior to the better American in these re- 
spects; he is, however, superior to the average native farmer, 
and buys land even under present economic handicaps. 



NUMBER OF FARMERS IN EACH THOUSAND 




WHO ARE 


NATIVE 


FOREIGN 
BORN 


NEGRO 


TOTAL 


Owners . 
Tenants . 


385 
870 


40 
29 


51 

116 


476 
524 




704 


69 


167 


1,000 



The number of negro tenants, usually above 60 per cent., 
runs as high as 85 per cent, in the large fertile river valleys. 
The number of white tenants is greatest, from 60 to 70 per 



FARM TENANTRY 3^7 

cent., mainly in the densely populated highrpriced Black 
Prairie region. Tenancy follows good land, whether the 
community be new or old. The negro, however, is not yet 
a severe competitor of the white in the "black waxy" land 
but is coming to be. However, a small percentage of ten- 
ants is not necessarily a good social sign; it may mean, as 
in the Mexican counties, a large percentage of farm laborers. 
The real farm tenant is mostly preferable to the mere farm 
laborer. Texas with her many tenants may be better off 
than the states with fewer tenants and more farm hands 
working for wages. 

Since Mexicans and the foreign-born do not furnish their 
proportion of tenants, if we classify the total population into 
whites and negroes in our tenantry statistics we shall get 
under "whites" figures tliat underestimate rather than 
magnify the amount of tenantry among native white Amer- 
icans. 

To see how white tenantry is growing, note the following 
table where the 1915 figures were obtained by adding half 
the increase between 1900 and 1910 to the 1910 Census 
figures : 

NUMBER OF ACRES IN EACH THOUSAND OP IMPROVED LAND 





IN 1910 


IN 1915 


CULTI- 
VATED BT 


WHITES 


NEGROES 


WHITES 


NEGROES 


Owners 
Tenants . 


555 
445 


S44 

656 


524 
476 


344 

656 


1 1,000 


1,000 


1,000 


1,000 



If the number of farmers be considered rather than the 
acreage cultivated by them, the results are not very different. 



328 



THE BOOK OF TEXAS 



NUMBER OF FARMERS IN EACH THOUSAND 







IN 1910 






IN 1915 




WHO ARE 


WHITES 


NEGROES 


WHITES 


NEGROES 1 




TEX. 


u. s. 


TEX. 


u. s. 


TEX. 


u. s. 


TEX. 


U. 8. 


Owners 

Tenants 


508 
492 


693 
307 


305 
695 


264 
736 


490 
510 


680 
320 


303 

697 


260 
740 

1000 




1000 


1000 


1000 


1000 


1000 


1000 


1000 



If these 1915 estimates are correct, there are ah'eady in 
Texas more white tenants than white owners, more native 
white tenants than native white owners. Moreover, if 
tenantry increases as fast between 1910 and 1920 as it did 
between 1900 and 1910, more land will be cultivated in 1920 
by white tenants than by white owners. 

As is to be expected, the owned farms are larger and more 
valuable than those cultivated by tenants. The average 
farm owned by a negro is a third more valuable than the 
one rented by a negro tenant, the white-owned farm is twice 
as valuable as the farm rented by a white man. 

*'A nigger, forty acres, and a mule" is strictly fulfilled in 
Texas, where the average negro farm, owned or rented, is 
but a trifle over forty acres, and there are 70,000 mules on 
the 70,000 negro farms. Unfortunately the negro doesn't 
own his forty acres more than one time in three. 

Only one-twentieth of the value of all farm property is 
on the negro-operated farms. Since only one negro in 
three owns the farm he operates — one in four is the United 
States average — the darkies own only one-sixtieth by value 
of all the farms, although one-sixth of all the farmers are 
negroes. Compared with his colored brethren in the other 
Southern States, the Texas negro owns more farms, which, 



FARM TENANTRY 329 

on the average, are somewhat more valuable. In Texas or 
out the negro does not own very much, yet appears to be 
making slow gains. 

In percentage of white farm tenants Oklahoma easily 
leads the other states. This is due to the Indian ownership 
of so much of the land. Exception being made of Okla- 
homa, Texas and Georgia are nearly tied for first place in 
this white tenancy race, a perceptible difference dividing 
them from the remaining states. Texas alone has one- 
tenth of the native white farm tenants of the whole United 
States. Counting negroes and whites Texas, owing to a 
smaller percentage of negroes, has less tenantry than five 
other Southern States. It is to be feared, however, that in 
white tenantry Texas exceeds Georgia and is second only to 
Oklahoma. No wonder that the question of farm tenantry 
is coming to the front and patriotic Texans are searching for 
its causes and its remedies. The question has been studied 
not only by Governor Ferguson but also by Hon. F. C. 
Weinert, State Warehouse and Marketing Manager, by 
Messrs. Austin, Leonard, Haney, and Wehrwein of the 
University of Texas, and by their students, and what follows 
here is very largely based upon their work. 

Popular explanations of the tenant problem place all the 
blame either on the landlord or the tenant. According to 
one view the tenant is poor because he is lazy, thriftless, 
and without ambition or foresight or prudence. According 
to the other view landlords are greedily forcing up rents, 
are insisting on the raising of nothing but cotton, are de- 
manding high interest rates, are non-residents, are against 
schools and other healthy community life, and are holding 



330 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

land at impossibly high prices. Alas, there is partial truth 
in each view: some tenants are very inefficient and some 
landlords are very grasping. 

The very rapid rise in the price of land, together with the 
increased cost of the equipment needed to cultivate it prop- 
erly, is the great and almost sufficient cause of the increase 
in tenantry. This has operated to retard ownership in two 
ways. Directly, it simply costs more than formerly to buy 
an acre of land. Indirectly, the increased value of the land 
has almost forced the landlord to demand higher rents which 
of course tend to prevent savings on the part of the tenant. 

The rise in rent is plainly shown by the coming of the 
"bonus," already frequent but by no means universal. 
The bonus is rent in addition to the customary one-fourth 
of the cotton and one-third of the other crops. This bonus, 
also partly due to competition between renters, is sometimes 
in the form of money, sometimes in the form of agreements 
to pay part of the taxes or buy supplies or stock from the 
landlord. Sometimes a third of the cotton is paid in place 
of the customary fourth. 

According to Professor Leonard, despite the increase in 
the prices of farm produce, "the financial ability of the 
tenant has not kept pace with the increase in the outlay 
necessary to equip a farm." "To supplement this shortage 
in capital the tenant must resort to credit." Unfortunately, 
in Texas all interest rates are yet high and the tenant, 
with little or no security to offer, is charged almost prohib- 
itive rates. A better rural credit system is one of the most 
fundamental needs of Texas. It would help all but the 
most inefficient. 



FARM TENANTRY 331 

The inefficiency of the tenant, the increase in the price 
of land, bad credit conditions, and bad marketing arrange- 
ments are the four great causes of tenantry. As Professor 
Leonard says, "There is an upper third of tenants who 
under present conditions are fairly prosperous. They are 
capable farmers and good business men. They are acquir- 
ing property even in high-priced land. Among them are to 
be found nearly all European farmers and many native 
Americans. Landlords are competing sharply for their 
capable services." Below a middle third of fairly good 
farmers but poor business men there lies a lower third where 
"the real tenant problem is localized. It is composed of a 
migratory thriftless body of men not unlike the casual un- 
skilled w^orkers of our cities." Incapable, untrained, care- 
less, often lazy, affected with hookworm, eating poor food 
very badly cooked, living in uncomfortable and crowded 
"shacks," victims of typhoid and ignorance, and money 
lenders, these submerged tenants are the modern repre- 
sentatives of the "poor whites" of the old South. The 
major evils of tenantry are largely confined to this group 
and to the negroes and Mexicans. 

These grossly inefficient whites, negroes, and Mexicans 
furnish most of the nomadic "croppers" who migrate each 
year from farm to farm. They also furnish many farm 
laborers; their inefficiency is a main cause of a present 
tendency on the part of landowners to cultivate their land 
by means of hired labor rather than by tenants. They are 
the victims of the chattel mortgage at high interest, 
and of high prices because their credit is bad. They are 
also the victims of more capable but unscrupulous men. 



332 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

The general public unfortunately is not yet sufficiently in- 
terested in the welfare of this submerged third, and schemes 
of reform have just begun to be seriously discussed. 

Left nearly unaided by those who might help them, the 
tenants do not seem to be able to help themselves by any 
successful system of cooperation. Says Professor Austin: 
'* Texas is suffering from sociological poverty. To make a 
living has been easier than elsewhere, which is not conducive 
to strong or united social action." Sometimes, unfortu- 
nately, rural dwellers are more suspicious of their neighbors 
than they are of strangers. Associations of farmers when 
formed are very hard to hold together. 

The financial condition of the tenant is exhibited with 
remarkable clearness by some statistics gathered by Pro- 
fessors Austin and Wehrwein in the rather widely scattered 
counties of Robertson, Brown, Matagorda, and Fort Bend. 
Tax renditions, rather unreliable except when it is a ques- 
tion of counting vehicles or heads of stock, revealed the 
fact that in each county the average tenant rendered about 
$300 of personal property. This included on the average 
less than three horses, three .head of cattle, and two hogs. 
Making all possible allowance for defective renditions it is 
plain that the average tenant has considerably less than 
$1,000 worth of property in those fairly tj^pical counties. 
This is a small beginning toward purchasing a farm were it 
at all available for the purpose. 

It also appears that a vast majority of the many chattel 
mortgages (which bear very high rates of interest, 20 per 
cent, sometimes) based upon this $300 of rendered personal 
property (worth $000 perhaps) are made in winter and 



FARM TENANTRY 333 

spring, and nearly all are paid, If paid at all. In September 
and October, when the cotton Is sold. Owning less than 
$1,000 of personal property, selling the crop in October, 
and beginning to borrow In January are three big facts that 
tell the tenant's sad financial story. 

This chattel mortgage system Is a Southern habit and 
means economic bondage and misery. Such mortgages 
exist by thousands and for small Individual amounts. Some- 
times they are made to get needed equipment, more often 
they are made to buy clothes and groceries from a store. 
"Where the farmer depends on the grocery, there Is the 
chattel mortgage." Credit is In fact too easy. Bankers 
and merchants take great risks and charge high Interest 
and profits. Loaning money to many tenants is not at- 
tractive even at high rates. A farmer often arranges with 
his local merchant either to buy on credit from January to 
October at cash price plus 10 per cent, for interest till 
October, or to make a note for, say, $200 at 10 per cent, to 
cover everything purchased till the crop comes in. Either 
way, much more than 10 per cent, interest Is obviously 
charged. This chattel mortgage and borrowing habit Is 
not a necessary feature of the one-crop cotton situation. 
Undoubtedly^ however, the lenders of money perpetuate the 
one-crop system by regarding cotton as the best crop for 
security, which, under present conditions, It probably is. 

The preference of landlords and merchants for mortgages 
based on cotton is not due solely to the fact that cotton Is 
a "money crop." The average tenant in Texas Is more 
likely to be successful with cotton than with any other crop. 
Moreover, It is not so easy for the dishonest or careless 



S34 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

tenant to get more than his share of the cotton by eating it 
or feeding it to the stock. Finally, cotton is relatively easy 
to store, neither rats, mice, nor other "varmints" eating 
it. 

Rental contracts are mostly verbal and are for one year 
only. A third of the tenants move every year. Sometimes 
the moving is for cause, sometimes in mere obedience to an 
unheal thful roving tendency. Short-term contracts and 
roving habits are ruinous. The shifting tenant is usually 
shiftless. Roving checks soil conservation, decent houses, 
interest in schools, and all other permanent upbuilding of 
the community. 

A standard rental contract is much needed. For rural 
progress it is essential that long-term renting be encouraged, 
and that equitable compensation for improvements made 
by the renter should become a fixed custom or be regulated 
by law. Texas has much to learn from European countries 
in this matter. At present landlords complain of the de- 
struction of property by renters quite as often as tenants 
complain of poor houses. Says a tenant: "I would to God 
you people could see just what kinds of huts the renting 
class live in"; says a landlord: "If I should put screens in 
they would be broken out in half an hour." The good land- 
lord in general attracts good tenants, the worst class of 
tenants gravitate toward the worst type of landlords. Be- 
tween the extremes all sorts of combinations exist, and what 
the average situation is no man knows. A worthless tenant 
on one farm may recklessly damage a good house provided 
by a generous landlord while on the next farm an avaricious 
landlord is cheating a helpless tenant. Tenantry is simply 



FARM TENANTRY 835 

another case where all sorts and conditions of men are in- 
volved. 

Professor Leonard has studied in Ellis County the tenant 
as a producer and finds, after deducting rent and wages, an 
average production of about $1,000 a year. Although this 
represents the labor of the whole family, it is to be feared 
that this $1,000 is in excess of the state average. In general 
the tenant does not use either his time or his money to the 
best advantage. Farm machinery is purchased either too 
much or too little and its depreciation is very great because 
most of it is left entirely exposed to the weather. 

Most tenants are hard workers. They spare neither them- 
selves, their wives, nor their children. Some, of course, 
are lazy and shiftless. Nearly all are desperately in need 
of an education that will enable them to compete on equal 
terms in the modern world. His own inefficiency, high- 
priced land, grasping landlords, high interest rates, poor crop 
years, bad roads, defective marketing conditions, rapidly 
changing economic conditions, have all done their evil part 
to impede the tenant's progress. 

Naturally there is a good deal of discontent and the tenant 
is likely to blame conditions more and himself less than he 
ought. Comparing the easy conditions of frontier days 
with the more adverse present, the tenant is convinced that 
he is far less fortunate than his father. Discouragement is 
frequent and even hopelessness is to be found. "Most 
renters," says one landlord, "have been renters for years 
and make no effort to become anything else." Says Gover- 
nor Ferguson: "A tenant in Bell County has about one 
chance in fifty to become an owner." The competition of 



336 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

the negro and the Mexican is being felt; the bonus is a 
source of disquiet; the tenant in general feels that his 
chances of success are decreasing. 

The discontent is largely unorganized and as yet has led 
to but little collective action. A tenant's union has been 
formed, but so far it has not accomplished anything. To 
check, to reduce, to abolish, the evils of tenantry is a gigantic 
task. The evils will grow unless sound remedies be applied. 
Although there exists no single or universal remedy for 
evils so complicated, it is easy to propose reforms that will 
lead to better things, but it is very hard to put the reforms 
into active operation. 

All competent students of tenantry turn to the school- 
house on the hill as the only general and ultimate remedy. 
But the school is so very slow-working. Years will be 
required to perfect the compulsory education law, to estab- 
lish rural high schools, to consolidate the scattered country 
schools, to fit the curriculum better to social needs, and, 
above all, to train up a set of thoroughly competent teach- 
ers. Better schools will produce a more efficient citizenship, 
which in turn will cause the passage of wise laws that will 
cure those evils that may be remedied by legislation. 

To Governor Ferguson belongs the credit for the only 
directly remedial legislation that has been passed so far, a 
law making it usury with the usual penalties to charge 
ordinary tenant rents in excess of one-fourth of the cotton 
and one-third of the grain. This law, regarded by him as 
merely the beginning of reform, he defends in the following 
words : 

"There can be no difference in principle between the man 



FARM TENANTRY 337 

who charges an exorbitant price for the use of his land and 
the man who charges an exorbitant price for the use of his 
money. Both commit a wrong against society, and if 
tliere be any difference in degree it is in favor of the man 
who loans the money, because he takes some chance in 
getting his money back. The right of the government to 
regulate rents is as well established as the right to regulate 
interest." 

A number of other reforms are approaching or reaching 
the legislative stage. These have been listed and summarized 
by Professor Haney somewhat as follows: 

(a) Establishment of land courts to arbitrate rents, to 
encourage long tenure, to provide for compensation for 
improvements made by tenants, to facilitate collective bar- 
gaining and, in general, to standardize and make equitable 
the rental contracts. Such courts would be a great in- 
novation but could do much good. 

(6) Special and graduated taxation of large land holdings, 
of future increments in land values, and of inheritances. 
The object of such taxation being to equalize opportunities 
by taxing strictly unearned incomes. 

(c) Modification of the Robertson Insurance Law, of the 
Homestead Law, and of the present system of registering 
land titles. The first helps to I ^'^^ up the interest rate, the 
second restricts the credit of all homesteader, the 

third makes land transfers diffic .md expensi^ e. 

{d) Establishment and stren.nhening of ago:icies that will 
promote self-help, cooperative ' ^rsification of 



crops, conservation of the soil 



V<^L..V.X ii villi 



3nditions, and 



better human relations betwec om-».o.»c .^^^a > Qants. 



338 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

More radical proposals of course are not lacking. Single- 
tax advocates have not been silent, and socialists argue for 
the abolition of private property in land. All are agreed 
that the situation is getting worse and that something must 
be done or very grave evil will result. "The land problem 
is but one phase of a complex mass of imperfections and 
maladjustments which make up the larger social problem — 
a problem that will always be with us as long as men so 
multiply as to press upon the existing means of subsistence." 
If moderate remedies do not succeed in abating sufficiently 
the evils of tenantry it is certain that more radical ones will 
eventually be tried. 

The evils of tenantry are so great that we may be j)er- 
mitted to rejoice that it is still possible if not probable for 
a tenant to become an owner; that, to take a single ex- 
ample, Mr. J. R. Hill of Haskell raised on a one-man farm 
last year a crop of wheat and oats that netted him $5,368 
after paying one-third of his crop for rent. There is a silver 
lining even to the tenantry cloud. 



CHAPTER IV 

COMMUNITY LIFE 

"The operation of the Texas homestead law makes death a luxury, not 
only to the debtor, but also to the ruined creditor. It is said that it enables 
the bone and sinew of a country to feel calm and serene in the presence of an 
execution for debt, and encourages the honest farmer to defraud the merchant 
who sells him goods on credit. . . . He can afford to be courteous to those 
who dun him, to be even jocular with them on the subject of his debts. He 
invites them to go through his house and see the modern improvements he has 
introduced at their expense. This is the reason that the facilities for amassing 
a fortune in Texas are so profuse. Nowhere else can a man, on such a small 
capital, and in the same length of time, reach to such aflfluence as the homestead 
law enables him to attain in Texas. Circulars mviting immigration to Texas, 
and describing the advantages of the state, never fail to draw a touching pic- 
ture of the beauty of the homestead law and the facilities it affords for evad- 
ing the absurd and antique practice of paying debts." 

— Sweet and Knox's "On a Mexican Mustang through Texas." 

FROM the time Austin's colony was settled at San 
Felipe, social life in the group that made up the 
village settlements was not very much unlike that 
of other American towns. For the men there was the store 
gossip and the ever-present saloon; for the women the sew- 
ing circle; a little later came the church, the school, the 
town hall, the courthouse — all serving to bring people 
together where they could act as a unit. In the outlying 
country districts, because of the lack of transportation facil- 
ities, the scarcity of newspapers and books, the distance 
between the cabins, and a climate that made the out of 
doors popular, there prevailed distinctive customs and 
practices, some of which have endured until the present. 

339 



340 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Of the social life of Texas cities little can be said that would 
not be generally true of any western state. 

Concerning community gatherings in early days much 
interesting material is found in the personal reminiscences 
of Noah Smith wick, who came to Texas in 1827: 

, "The biggest time we ever had was on the occasion of a double 
wedding, the brides being a couple of grass widows who were domiciled 
together just out of town, their comfortable home and reputed bank 
account being an irresistible attraction to a couple of good-looking 
young scamps who were hanging about; hence the wedding. The 
boys all got together and went out to charivari them. It was my first 
experience in that kind of a performance, and was unquestionably the 
most outrageous din I ever heard; cowbells, cowhorns, tin pans, and 
in fact everything that contained noise were called into requisition, and 
with their discordant sounds mingled hoots, howls, and caterwaulings 
enough to make the hair rise on one's head. But all our efforts to 
bring the happy quartette out proved abortive. We overdid the 
thing and frightened them out of their wits; so after exhausting every 
device short of breaking in the door and dragging them out, we adjourned 
to town to wind up. 

"The Masonic Hall was dedicated on the 24th of June, 1855, a grand 
barbecue and ball being among the attractions. The dinner was free 
to all and consisted of everything the country afforded, and was in such 
abundance that after all who would had partaken freely there were 
quantities appropriated by the outside element. I saw one fellow who 
I knew had not contributed one cent to the dinner ride off on horseback 
with a quarter of roasted beef on his shoulder, upon which, with the 
assortment of cakes, pies, etc., his thrifty helpmeet had collected from 
the table, the family no doubt feasted for several days. 

"The houses of the early Texans were small, but their hearts were 
large enough to cover all deficiencies. No candidate for hospitality 
was ever turned away. After the danger from Indians was over we 
had all out of doors in which to entertain our friends. If there was a 
wedding, everybody was invited and a long table set out in the yard, 
around which the guests stood while partaking of the cheer with which 
it was loaded. Then if the bridgegroom had relatives they gave an 



COMMUNITY LIFE 341 

* infair ' on the day following the wedding, at which the outdoor dinner 
was repeated. 

"Among the early social events I recall an infau- given by William 
McGill to his nephew, Louis Thomas, and bride, Miss Kates; also a 
dinner given by Logan Vandever at the closing of school, which was 
the pride of the town, besides several Masonic and Fourth of July 
dinners. These free-for-all diimers were discontinued after a few years; 
the hungry hordes that swarmed in from all parts of the country, not 
content with a hearty dinner, filled their pockets, reticules, baskets, 
and handkerchiefs with the desserts furnished by the ladies, till they 
went on a strike at the imposition, and after that only those having the 
password gained admission. 

"Barbecues were a feature of all political gatherings, the most not- 
able one in that part of the country being given at the Marble Falls 
on the Fourth of July, 1854, prior to which time only the sound of the 
water leaping down the successive steps of the falls, and the voices of 
occasional small parties that had visited the spot, had awakened the 
echoes of the surrounding hills. 

"Preparations on a scale preponderate to the place and the occasion 
were begun several weeks in advance. Meetings were held, committees 
appointed with power to levy contributions indiscriminately, everybody 
cheerfully complying with the demands thereof and faithfully carrying 
out parts assigned. The mills were called on for flour, and some of 
the jNIormon ladies who were famous cooks manufactured it into bread. 
The Burnet merchants gave freely of their groceries. Old man Lirston, 
who lived on the creek which bears his name, a few miles below town, 
was put down for a wagonload of roasting ears; other farmers brought 
wagonloads of watermelons and cantaloupes, together with such vege- 
tables as were at hand. Huntsmen brought m venison and wild turkeys, 
and beef and pork galore were advanced. Nor were more delicate 
viands wanting; there were pound cakes worthy of the name, warranted 
full weight, that deluding inflationist, bakmg powder, not having as 
yet found its way into that neck of the woods. There were wild grape 
pies and dewberry pies and wild plum pies; as yet there was no culti- 
vated fruit except dried fruit, which was very scarce and high. 

"Several families from Burnet, among them the Vandevers and 
McGills, ever foremost in such enterprises, went down beforehand and 
camped on the ground to superintend the final arrangements. There 
was a wide-spreading arbor covered with brush beneath, seats and a 
speaker's stand were arranged, the ground being carpeted with a thick 



342 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

layer of sawdust, which served for a dancing floor. People came 
from far and near, on foot, on horseback, in carriages and farm wagons. 
None stayed away for the want of conveyance, and the seating power of 
the spacious arbor was taxed to its utmost. 

"The first number on the program was a national salute fired from 
holes drilled in the rock. The band, consisting of a lone fiddle manip- 
ulated by Jabez Brown, played 'Yankee Doodle' and 'Hail Columbia,' 
the only national airs in his repertoire. 

"The literary exercises began with the reading of the Declaration of 
Independence by the young son of the writer, a lad of fourteen, one of 
Professor Dixon's pupils, whom the professor had carefully drilled for 
the occasion. 

"Doctor Moore, the orator of the day, then took the stand. He 
was as long-winded as a silver senator. His stentorian voice rolled out 
from his perspiring visage, contesting with the falls, while his rotund 
figure shook with the energy of his gesticulations. The sun mounted 
the zenith and, stooping far over to the westward, peeped curiously 
over to the westward to see what all the noise was about. Still the 
doctor's stentorian voice rang out the psean of liberty over the nodding 
heads of his weary audience, mingling with the roar of the water and 
reverberating among the distant hills. At last it was finished, and the 
famished multitude made a rush for the dinner which had long been 
waiting, the odor therefrom aggravating the impatience of the throng, 
to a large number of which the dinner was the principal feature of the 
occasion, they apparently having risen early and breakfasted on the 
anticipation of the feast. But there was enough and to spare for 
supper and breakfast for those who remained to participate in the saw- 
dust dance which closed the performance. Long before the night a 
space was cleared and Jabez Brown took his place on the stand and 
sawed out reels, which he also called, until daylight the next morning, 
occasionally varying the program with singing, in a strong, musical, 
though uncultivated voice, 'The Maid of Monterey,' and 'The Destruc- 
tion of Sennacherib.^ 

"It was the greatest event the country had ever enjoyed, and we did 
have a royal time, some of the participants remaining on the ground 
several days later, presumably to live it all over again in imagination." 

"The first meal I had in Texas," writes an old pioneer, 
*Vas composed of dried venison sopped in honey." This 



COMMUNITY LIFE S43 

delectable diet indicates pretty clearly the scantiness of 
the elements in early Texas days, as in all pioneer countries, 
that made life particularly hard on women. As one old 
woman of these times remarked, "Texas is a heaven for 
men and dogs, but a hell for women and oxen." The oxen 
did the rough labor of hauling, while the women performed 
the equally arduous task of making their cabins a real home 
under impossible conditions. Despite such conditions, 
however, the people from the first had some social life. 
The young folks enjoyed square dances on a rough puncheon 
floor or even a smooth place of ground swept clean for the 
purpose; or, when church rules forbade too strongly, sub- 
stituted play party songs for the sinful fiddle. The tunes 
of ''Weevilly Wheat," "Shoot the Buffalo," "Johnny 
Brown," "Hog Drovers," and other similar songs sung to 
dance music, are yet well known among the descendants 
of the early settlers. A wedding and a big dinner often 
resulted from this mingling of young people, an infair, or 
dinner, being given on the day succeeding the ceremony — 
followed perhaps by a charivari at night — to which were 
invited all the people of the community, as Champ Clark 
invited all Missouri to the wedding of his daughter in the 
summer of 1915. The people also met from districts em- 
bracing the territory of a hundred miles in radius at bar- 
becues where for twenty-four hours preceding the feast 
whole beeves, hogs, sheep, and goats were roasted on wooden 
spits in the open air. Such customs had the effect of unify- 
ing the lives of the people, of bringing them together for 
social intercourse and for the discussion of public affairs. 
The character of the people who first settled Texas has 



344 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

been much misunderstood. It is true that a small percen- 
tage of persons who had fled from the states desired for one 
reason or another to keep their identity concealed. As a 
cowboy song says: "My name is nothing extra, so that 
I will not tell." It is yet a joke in Texas that it is a form 
of impoliteness to ask a man what his name was before he 
came to the state. It must be remembered that Texas 
was settled when duelling, though forbidden by law, was 
yet a common practice in the South. Some of the pioneers 
were successful duellists who had fled from their homes be- 
cause their opponents had fallen before their aim. At 
this time, moreover, laws in some states still put in prison 
persons who were unable to pay their debts. Others of 
the pioneer class were, of course, people who had either 
wittingly or unwittingly violated the law and wished either 
to continue their lawless course or to reform amid strange 
faces and new scenes. Still another class of settlers were 
restless adventurers, young and old, who found in Texas 
an ample outlet for their adventurous spirits. They loved 
the plains as sailors love the sea. A large percentage of set- 
tlers were, of course, seekers of agricultural opportunities in 
a new and fertile land. They wished homes for their sons 
and daughters ; the West called them ; they were best satis- 
fied when their neighbor did not live too near them. One 
settler, in explaining why he was moving on farther west, 
declared that the country was "getting crowded," for, said 
he, "I have just heard that a fellow has settled on a claim 
ten miles from my home." The very hardships and incon- 
veniences of the life made it more attractive. 
One of the great factors in bringing the country people 



COMMUNITY LIFE 345 

together, even when they had to travel as far as fifty or 
one hundred miles overland, were the camp-meetings, con- 
ducted mainly by the Methodist Church, though the Bap- 
tist Church and other churches also held this particular 
character of meeting. The facilities at these camp-meetings 
were of the crudest kind. The place of worship was under 
an arbor of green branches built usually in the woods, with 
water handy. In early days people came from far and 
wide to attend these meetings, bringing with them food to 
last from one to three weeks. The women slept in the 
covered wagons, the men lying on the ground in the open 
or under the trees, the children, a promiscuous bunch, 
usually making their beds in the straw of the altar used by 
the "mourners." At night surrounding towns and villages 
sent out their share of auditors. The services kept the 
campers busy throughout the day. A sunrise prayer meet- 
ing was first held, then at nine o'clock "experience" meeting; 
next a sermon at eleven; an afternoon service at three 
o'clock; a "grove meeting" service at sunset, in which the 
men held their service separate from the women; and, 
finally, the night preaching, where, before crowds of eager 
listeners, the most eloquent minister available held forth. 
All the services were followed by a prolonged singing of 
well-known camp-meeting songs. The effect of some of 
these songs is thrilling even in remembrance. Through the 
powerful exhortation of the minister "calling up mourners," 
followed by a period of singing on the part of the entire 
audience, large numbers of "mourners," or penitents, were 
induced to come to the altar to kneel for prayer. Here, 
under the spur of emotions aroused by the fervid songs and 



346 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

by the earnest admonition and entreaties of the church 
people who went about talking to the "mourners," numerous 
professions of religion were made. Before the night meeting 
broke up it was not unusual for some of the "mourners" 
and some of their friends to "get happy" and shout. For 
those who have witnessed such scenes it is almost a sad re- 
flection to think that they are common no longer. The 
flickering campfires in the forest, the flaring kerosene lamps 
surrounding the brush arbor, the group of earnest faces lit 
up mainly by religious fervor, the weird music, the impas- 
sioned appeals of earnest exhortation, the exultant shouts of 
those made happy were, until the early nineties, a common 
experience throughout practically all Texas wherever the 
Methodist circuit rider went; and he kept up despite 
meagre financial support, even with the smallest settle- 
ments, where in the summer season you could find him 
holding camp-meetings, and throughout the year filling reg- 
ular appointments on "circuits" larger than some of the 
New England States. 

The whole-hearted hospitality of the Texas pioneer, and 
especially of the cattleman, is one of his most widely known 
characteristics and one which can even yet be proved by 
actual experience with these generous-minded men. No 
traveller was ever charged for food and shelter for himself 
and team when he stopped for a night's lodging at a ranch 
house. Indeed, travellers often gave offense even by offer- 
ing to pay for such accommodations. He must always 
give the call "Hello!" and be answered before dismounting 
from his horse. Civilization and greed for money have 



COMMUNITY LIFE 347 

not until now greatly changed in this respect the nature 
of the cattleman. Recently a company in southwest Texas, 
after a long day's ride, came upon a lone ranch house. The 
doors were closed but unlocked and no one was at home. 
Upon going in they found a note addressed to any traveller 
saying that cooked food could be found in the pantry and 
feed for stock in the unfastened barn. All comers were 
directed to help themselves freely and to cook other food 
as needed; and it is a credit to humanity that such hos- 
pitality is rarely abused. 

The Texas cattleman is not only hospitable but he is a 
liberal giver and a free spender. John Timon, a wealthy 
cowman of San Patricio County, used to advertise, "All 
honest, industrious poor men are welcome to kill an oc- 
casional calf, provided they do not waste the meat." The 
old type of cowman still survives in Texas. While he does 
not advertise publicly his willingness to give away calves 
for beef, it is at the head of almost every subscription list 
for the benefit of churches, colleges, and charity that you 
will find the names of cattlemen who have husbanded their 
resources and grown rich on the proceeds of broad acres 
of ranches, thousands of Herefords, and from bank dividends 
where they reign as presidents. Some of them have grown 
to be millionaires. Among the better known wealthy cattle 
owners are Mrs. Richard King, Kingsville; George W. Little- 
field of Austin; C. C. Slaughter, Dallas; Lee Bivens, 
Amarillo; R. R. Russell, San Antonio; S. B. Burnett, Fort 
Worth; Ike T. Pry or, San Antonio; Joe Jackson, Alpine; 
J. D. Suggs, San Angelo; Ed. C. Lasater, Falfurrias; Tom 
Waggoner, Fort Worth; John J. Welder, Victoria; James 



348 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

C. Welder, Victoria; Martin O'Connor, Victoria; Al Mc- 
Fadden, Victoria; Preston Austin, Victoria; Joseph O'Con- 
nor, Victoria; Mary Hallinan, Victoria; W. W. Jones, 
Corpus Christi; John G. Kenedj^ Corpus Christi; Robert 
Driscoll, Driscoll; T. A. Coleman, San Antonio; John 
O'Brien, Refugio; C. B. Lucas, Berclair; John M. Moore, 
Richmond; James H. Parramore, Abilene; Claibe Merchant, 
Abilene; and Geo. Ward, Sol West, J. D. Houston, John 
R. Blocker, and John M. Bennett, all of San Antonio. 
Such examples of hospitality were not limited to the cattle- 
men, particularly of early daj^s. They simply represented 
the attitude of mind of the pioneer people of the frontier. 
In thickly settled communities one can now safely offer 
pay for a night's lodging, but among the old Texas families, 
and especially in the thinly populated districts of the West, 
a man's house and all he has is yours almost as completely 
as in the exaggerated courtesy of Oriental peoples. 

Before the days of railroads and automobiles social inter- 
course among the people of the country was more common 
than it is to-day. Community road working was ordinarily 
more like a picnic or a pleasant horseback ride of ten miles 
or so than a day of labor. The roads may not have been 
greatly improved, but community gossip was interchanged 
with thoroughness. A good friend would visit another 
good friend, taking with him in his covered wagon his entire 
family, including the dogs, and driving ten miles away to 
his home to stay from Saturday night until late Sunday 
afternoon. The habit of "staying all night" also was very 
common among the boys and young men; and the girls 
went visiting, too, on horseback, instead of the present week- 



COMMUNITY LIFE 349 

end visiting or prolonged house-party engagements. Pro- 
tracted sickness in early days likewise helped to unify com- 
munity life in neighborhoods. Being without trained 
nurses, neighbors visited whenever there was sickness among 
their friends and "sat up" all night in relays with the sick 
person. Funerals were also largely attended by the entire 
countryside, and a man's popularity and influence was 
indicated by the length of the line of wagons and buggies 
and people on horseback that followed him to his last resting- 
place. Country folks were fond of exclaiming, "He had 
the longest funeral ever known in this community." Again, 
hunting parties, on occasions extending over a month's 
time, also brought the men of the same and different com- 
munities together in groups for intimate talk and associa- 
tion, and were really of positive help in unifying sentiment 
by an exchange of views on all sorts of questions and in 
creating mutual esteem and respect for each other. The 
campfire in early Texas was an influential forum of public 
opinion as was also the public road workings and country 
stores. 

The spring of the year brought numerous picnics, where 
on rare occasions was to be found a brass band to furnish 
music. Some picnics were called barbecues, taking the 
name from the beeves, hogs, mutton, and now and then wild 
game, that were roasted whole over an open fire to feed the 
multitude. In portions of the country where fish were 
plentiful, "fish fries" were common. The men seined the 
rivers and caught and cleaned the fish, while the women 
gathered on some romantic spot on the river bank and 
fried them as they were brought in. Another favorite 



350 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

form of country gathering a quarter of a century ago was 
the tournament, called in the vernacular "toonament." 
At a tournament skilful riders, flashily dressed, each pro- 
vided with a long lance, had trials of skill to see which 
could catch on his lance in three trials, while his pony 
ran at full speed, the largest number of small steel rings, 
one and one-half inches in diameter, from five poles. 
The victorious rider usually caught all the rings. When 
the tournament first started, the reward of the victor 
was simply a wreath of flowers with which he crowned his 
favorite lady. Later the prizes for the contest were highly 
ornate bridles and saddles, and finally sums of money. The 
mercenary spirit killed the interest in these contests, and the 
cowboys, usually the leaders in such entertainments, turned 
their attention to roping and hog-tying steers against time, 
which exciting sport in turn drew great crowds of spectators. 
These exhibitions of skill became so cruel that they were 
finally prohibited by law. Another form of public enter- 
tainment that drew people together in the country was a 
political meeting, at which great dinners were served, with 
pony races, foot races, wrestling, and other similar attrac- 
tions for the less thoughtful. All of these save political 
gatherings seem now to have given way to athletic exhibi- 
tions, baseball, and football. A cowman's camp-meeting still 
survives in the Alpine country, attended by thousands, some 
of whom come hundreds of miles. A few whites and very 
commonly the negroes still conduct outdoor meetings similar 
to the camp-meetings held a few decades ago. 

With the influx of people regular organizations of many 
kinds have taken up their interest. The Farmers' Union 



COMMUNITY LIFE 351 

and the Farmers' Institutes have succeeded the Grange and 
the Farmers' AUiance. The Masons, the Odd Fellows, the 
Knights of Pythias, the Praetorians, the Woodmen of the 
World, and other secret organizations draw their member- 
ship from the country as well as the towns. Through the 
agency of the United States Government, the Agricultural 
and Mechanical College, and the State Department of 
Agriculture, there have been formed baby beef clubs, boys' 
corn clubs, girls' canning clubs, Boy Scouts, and other 
organizations for the young people, while a multitude of 
uplift, reform, and educational associations are at work to 
help country people of all classes; in fact, the common com- 
plaint is that the people of Texas are suffering from over- 
organization. For example, there are in Texas thirty -nine 
agricultural and live-stock associations, fifty-nine commercial 
and industrial associations, thirty fraternal organizations, 
six medical associations, twelve patriotic associations, 
thirty-two religious organizations, and, besides, fifty-four 
miscellaneous associations, all attempting to cover the 
entire state. 

One aspect of this organization activity will perhaps be 
of great benefit to country life; for in Texas, as elsewhere, 
the people are drifting in ever-increasing numbers from the 
country to the town; attention has been called as never 
before to the schoolhouse as the centre of community life, 
the rallying ground for the people. People with children 
will naturally think more of giving them an education and 
of providing them with adequate and comfortable, as well 
as aesthetic, surroundings while they are in school. The 
University, the Agricultural and Mechanical College, the 



352 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

State Department of Agriculture, and the Women's Fed- 
eral Clubs are all deeply interested in movements to bring 
the people together at tlie schoolhouses. The University 
Athletic and Debating League awakens the ambition of 
boys and girls for athletic and debating superiority. The 
old-fashioned spelling bee, popular in the frontier days, has 
been revived, and its interest for the public is still found to 
be keen. The little "red schoolhouse" (it is seldom red 
in Texas, but usually stands on a hill, if a hill is available) 
continues to be a powerful centre of force, and its influence 
ought to become stronger and stronger year by year. 

At the same time the automobile brings the well-to-do 
country man into closer contact with the city. He can 
come in from his ranch or his farm thirty miles distant, do 
his shopping, and return home before sundown. In the 
same way he can visit his district fair, or even the great 
State Fair at Dallas, or the Cotton Palace at Waco, or the 
Turkey Trot at Cuero, or the Frontier Day at San Angelo, 
with possibly only a day or two's absence from home. If all 
the active forces at work to keep Texas primarily a rural state 
are even only partially successful, its cities and towns will 
continue to grow slowly. When the Census figures of 1910 
were issued by the National Government, it was found that 
only five cities in Texas contained as many as 100,000 people. 
The same Census disclosed the fact that there were more 
than 200 towns in Texas with a population of upward of 
1,000 people. There are possibly from 500 to 1,000 villages 
containing a population of less than 1,000. The influence 
of these numerous towns on country life has possibly been 
too great. Picnics, camp-meetings, country barbecues, 



COMMUNITY LIFE 353 

political open-air speakings, are no longer so popular; but 
there are Indications that the love for the open air and out 
of doors has caused the pendulum to swing the other way. 
The majority of houses built to-day contain sleeping porches. 
Folks still go hunting and fishing. Automobile trips to 
Colorado and California are common. During the summer 
months the coast and river banks are dotted with campers 
living In tents, many of them sleeping w ith no cover except 
the sky. The Inter urban railroads are calling the people 
of the cities to build their houses farther and farther in the 
country. Texas is yet 6Q per cent, rural, and possibly it 
will remain so. 

Naturally the influx of people has resulted in a more 
highly organized society. The real distance between a 
present-day share-cropper and a banker Is far greater than 
It was between a cowboy and a cattle baron, for social caste 
practically was non-existent in pioneer days. Then a man's 
ability to ride without touching leather and to shoot when 
necessary were apt to give him standing in a community. 
Texas now has a large renter class, part of them descendants 
possibly of the "po' white trash"; many others are negroes, 
whose needs and status are becoming of growing concern 
to earnest-minded men. Without pressing slum problems, 
Texas has, notwithstanding, the age-old problem of the poor. 



CHAPTER V 

THE CITIES AND TOWNS 

'The greatness of Texas lies not so much in its vast extent of territory and 
its abundance of natural resources as in the character of its people which is a 
composite — with the good predominant — of qualities peculiar to many lands, 
whence the citizenship of the state has been recruited." — Professor George P. 
Garrison. 

THE eight large cities of Texas may be characterized 
in a word or phrase, so distinctive are the industries 
and activities which support them. Austirl is the 
educational centre of the state and the home of the state 
government; Dallas is the wholesale and manufacturing 
centre; El Paso, the gateway to all of northern Mexico, and 
the metropolis of west Texas and New Mexico; in Fort 
Worth is centred the packing industry; Galveston is the 
second seaport in America; Houston is the railroad centre of 
southern Texas, where water competition in freight rates is 
first encountered; San Antonio is the greatest health resort 
in Texas and the distributing and manufacturing centre of 
southwest Texas; Waco is a railroad centre of importance 
near the geographical centre of the state, recently acquiring 
the added dignity of being the head of Brazos River naviga- 
tion. 

Within the last ten years there has been a notable awaken- 
ing among the important cities in the matter of civic im- 
provement. And even in the smaller cities marvels of 
beautification have been effected. Beaumont, the city of 

854 



THE CITIES AND TOWNS 355 

oil, the largest of the smaller cities, has seven parks com- 
prising about 220 acres, the bare land value of which ap- 
proaches $150,000, taking no account of nine school cites 
retained by the city worth in the aggregate about $75,000. 
Corpus Christi is a city of about 10,000, whose natural site 
on a desolate sand beach has been transfigured by paved 
streets and the immense ornamental retaining walls of con- 
crete along the disreputable "bluff," which overlooks the 
business portion of the city. Paris, a thriving north Texas 
city of 12,000, has spent $175,000 on street paving in the last 
five years and now boasts about 17 miles of paved streets 
and a municipal abattoir. The budget of this little city for 
1916 carries more than $150,000. The larger cities have ac- 
complished even more featurable results in the way of civic 
improvements in the last few years. San Antonio, for in- 
stance, has 480 acres in public parks; Fort Worth, 425 
acres; Dallas, 418; Houston, 580; Austin, 180; El Paso, 118, 
and Waco, 179. Many of them are equipped with play- 
ground apparatus, band-stands, seats, drinking fountains, 
zoological gardens, and their natural beauty is enhanced by 
artificial lakes, terraced river banks, and so on. 

There are four cities in the state with an "atmosphere," a 
thing as distinct and as easily identified as temperament is 
in a human being. Galveston is tropical. Its profusely 
oleandered avenues, wide boulevards upon which palm 
trees flourish, the spacious, lazy comfort of its residential 
areas, and its busy miles of wharves, where strange craft 
from the world's ends swarm like bees around a hive, all give 
this port a distinctive air. Galveston's greatest achieve- 
ment is its sea wall, the test of which came in 1915 during a 



356 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

storm as terrific as that of 1900 which took its toll of ten 
thousand lives. With that faith which removes mountains 
and stays even the might of the furious sea, the people of 
Galveston slumbered safely through the second great storm 
in the fall of 1915, which put the sea wall to its conclusive 
test. It stood ; the city was saved, there was great rejoicing, 
and the hovering fear that had cast a sort of gloom over the 
city for fifteen years was banished forever. 

San Antonio sums up more history than any other city in 
the state. Its old Spanish missions standing solemn and 
steadfast amid the hurrying business of a modern city are 
to the historians what fossils are to the geologist — an in- 
effaceable and perfectly legible record in enduring stone. 
All Texas loves San Antonio for her heroic past, while to the 
tourist her narrow winding streets, polyglot street signs 
(Spanish-German-English), curious, angular little plazas, 
and the soft accents of the Spanish tongue, all suggest some- 
thing new and strange, giving the traveller a hint of what he 
is to expect if he continues a southern course and crosses the 
Rio Grande into the land of the JNIontezumas. Among the 
things of especial interest to the tourist that distinguished 
this quaint old city about to celebrate her 200th anniversary 
are the Chapel of Miracles, where many miraculous cures 
have been effected, so you are told; the Pastores, yearly 
acted, the oldest play in America; Coppini's studio, and 
that also of the painter, Julian Onderdonk, and the Alamo 
together with several other interesting and historic missions. 

As San Antonio is surely the quaintest, so is Dallas the 
most "citified," city in Texas. It has the *'step lively" at- 
mosphere. Its favorite advertisement is a photographic 



THE CITIES AND TOWNS 357 

reproduction of the horizon-line where skyscrapers loom, and 
new ones are being put up so rapidly that you can scarcely 
keep count. Dallas is the city that does things. A new 
railroad terminal building costing $1,500,000 is just com- 
pleted, and all the railroad tracks are being taken up and 
relaid so as to loop gracefully around the city instead of 
cutting through helter-skelter, country-town fashion. Dal- 
las is all hustle and business. The greatest publishing 
centre of the South save Nashville, she is the wholesale dis- 
tributing centre for most of Texas and a large part of Okla- 
homa. 

About four hundred miles almost due west of Dallas you 
find the fourth city in Texas with an "atmosphere." El 
Paso is in but not of Texas. Hundreds of miles from the 
nearest populous Texas community, you hear ten El Pasoans 
speak of having taken a trip to Los Angeles to one who men- 
tions visiting San Antonio. El Paso's eyes are turned to 
the west. She is interested up the Rio Grande, not down it. 
She is really the metropolis of New Mexico, although 
Albuquerque is nominally so. Her main interest in Texas 
is in connection with the cattle industry of sparsely popu- 
lated western plains and mountains. There is nothing else 
that so rejoices the heart of this city as a cattlemen's con- 
vention, bringing, as it does, to her streets sun-tanned throngs 
of upstanding cowmen gathered in from that wide, w41d 
territory lying between Devil's River on the east and the Gila 
on the west. Of course, El Paso has been in an abnormal 
condition for the past five years, due to the revolutions in 
Mexico. Financial filibustering has found headquarters in 
this city, and illicit traffic in war munitions has doubtless 



358 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

been carried on. Men from all over the world having in- 
terests in Mexico have found it convenient to establish 
headquarters in El Paso, and hence, El Paso has become the 
most cosmopolitan city in Texas. It is western in the same 
sense that Los Angeles is; it is as non-Texan as Albuquerque; 
it is more Mexican than any other city along the border with 
the possible exception of Brownsville. 

The government of Texas cities has also been a matter of 
great interest not only at home but abroad. The commis- 
sion form of city government had its origin in Galveston just 
after the great storm of 1900. Here was a city absolutely 
wrecked and apparently ruined. No one knows how many 
lives had been lost, but conservative estimates place it at 
10,000. The principal streets were piled high with debris, 
the water-works, electric lighting system, and street railways 
were all smashed to bits. The great causeway two miles 
long w^as torn to pieces, thus cutting off communication, 
except by boat, with the mainland. The stench of decaying 
bodies of beasts and human beings was sickening. It seemed 
a superhuman task to bring any sort of order out of this 
chaos wrought by wind and waves. The old city govern- 
ment perished in a night. A commission of the ablest 
business men of the city assumed control by common con- 
sent. 

The commission form of government for cities was born of 
this terrible catastrophe, and in a very few years by its 
marvellous efficiency it had won a secure place. The follow- 
ing cities in Texas have now the commission form of gov- 
ernment: Abilene, Alice, Amarillo, Anson, Aransas Pass, 
Arlington, Austin, Beeville, Brownsville, Calvert, Canadian, 



THE CITIES AND TOWNS 359 

Coleman, Commerce, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Denison, 
Denton, Devlne, Eagle Pass, El Paso, Ennis, Fort Worth, 
Galveston, Goldthwaite, Greenville, Groesbeck, Hereford, 
Hico, Hillsboro, Honey Grove, Houston, Jacksboro, Kenedy, 
Luling, McGregor, McKinney, Marble Falls, Marshall, 
Mart, Mexia, Mineola, Mineral Wells, Nocona, Palestine, 
Piano, Port Arthur, Port Lavaca, Richmond, San Angelo, 
San Antonio, Sherman, Sulphur Springs, Sweetwater, 
Taylor, Terrell, Texarkana, Tyler, Van Alstyne, Waco, 
West, Yoakum. 

The following Texas cities have adopted during the last 
two years the city-manager plan: Amarillo, Brownsville, 
Denton, San Angelo, Sherman, Taylor, Terrell, Tyler, 
Yoakum. 

The cities of Texas are equipped with forty-nine free 
public libraries, thirteen of which have been built and are 
maintained with the help of the Carnegie library fund, only 
two of which, however, contain more than fifty thousand 
volumes. Three others have between thirty and fifty 
thousand volumes and the remainder less than 30,000. 
There are in addition thirty -five small subscription libraries 
ranging in volumes from a few hundred to four thousand. 

Of course, a number of the smaller cities use the libraries 
of colleges that happen to be located in the community. For 
instance, Austin, a city of over 30,000 inhabitants, has no 
public library, but the University of Texas library of 109,000 
volumes and the State Library of 33,000 volumes are 
used freely by the people. There are thirty-three college 
libraries in the state, the great majority of them ranging 
from two thousand to twelve thousand volumes. 



360 THE BOOK OF TEXAB 

The social centre movement has not as yet made any great 
headway in Texas. The "community spirit" has no means 
of manifesting itself as a rule, except through commercial 
organizations, and they are not thoroughly representative. 
In the smaller places the social life is centred for the most 
part in the churches, of which there are some eight or ten 
denominations represented in every town of more than 5,000 
population in the state. Country clubs are becoming more 
and more popular with the wealthier classes of the urban 
population. When statistics were last collected there were 
forty-three of these institutions in the state, most of 
which provide their members with a golf course of nine or 
eighteen holes. 

With the intention of finding out how many cities in 
Texas have public parks, and the amount of money in- 
vested in the same as well as the area covered, a question- 
naire was sent out to the 100 most populous centres in the 
state asking for this information. Answers were received 
from seventy cities, the information thus gathered con- 
cerning the eight largest cities having been herein previously 
set forth. Of the sixty-two lesser cities answering this 
questionnaire, forty have public parks of one kind or an- 
other. Relatively small cities, such as Tyler, Wichita Falls, 
and Marshall have 70, GO, and 40 acres, respectively, de- 
voted to this purpose. The acreage and value in public 
parks in a number of the smaller cities follow: 

Amarillo, 20 acres, value $30,000; Cameron, 28 acres, value 
$5,500; Corsicana, 24 acres, value $30,000; Laredo, 72 acres, 
value $120,000; Marshall, 40 acres, value $10,000; San 
Angelo, 80 acres, value $40,000; Sulphur Springs, 88 acres. 



THE CITIES AND TOWNS 361 

$15,500; Waxahachie, 30 acres, $15,000. The aggregate 
park area of the forty-two smaller cities, the officials of 
which furnished information on the subject, is 754 acres, 
the value of which is considerably more than a million 
dollars. 



CHAPTER VI 



EDUCATION 



"The schoolmaster is abroad in the land and I trust more to him, armed with 
his primer, than to the statesman with his year book." — Lord Brougham. 

"Let me teach the children of a nation, and I care not who makes the laws." 

—C. K. Lee. 

4 PPROPRIATIONS of money shall not be made for a 
LJL longer period than two years, except for purposes 
-*- -^ of education," reads a clause retained in the vari- 
ous Texas Constitutions up to the Constitution of 187G — a 
special exception in favor of education that indicates the 
overtopping interest felt in this cause by the pioneers of 
Texas. When Texas rebelled from Mexico the delegates 
assembled at Gonzales said in one of their counts in their 
indictment against the government of Mexico: "It has failed 
to establish any system of public education, although pos- 
sessed of almost boundless resources (the public domain), 
and although it is an axiom in political science that unless 
the people are educated and enlightened it is idle to expect 
the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity for self-govern- 
ment." They, therefore, resolved "to provide as soon as 
circumstances will permit a general system of public educa- 
tion." In an address to the Congress of the Republic two 
years later President Mirabeau B. Lamar delivered a sen- 
tence which has become the motto of the University of Texas 
and is printed on every piece of literature sent out by the 

362 



EDUCATION 363 

institution: "Cultivated mind is the guardian genius of 
democracy. . . . It is the only dictator that freemen 
acknowledge and the only security that freemen desire." 

The bigness of Texas and the extent of its rich lands seems 
to have been inseparably connected in the minds of the fathers 
of Texas with a great and adequately supported system of 
public education. In 1838 President Lamar in a message to 
the Third Congress of the Republic said: "The present is a 
propitious moment to lay the foundation of a great moral and 
intellectual edifice which will in after ages be hailed as the 
chief ornament and blessing of Texas. A suitable appropria- 
tion of lands to the purpose of general education can be made 
at this time without inconvenience to the government or to 
the people; but defer it till the public domain shall have 
passed from our hands, and the uneducated youths of Texas 
will constitute the living monuments of our neglect and 
remissness. A liberal endowment which will be adequate 
to the general diffusion of a good rudimental education in 
every district of the Republic and to the establishment of a 
university where the highest branches of science may be 
taught, can now be effected without the expenditure of a 
single dollar. Postpone it a few years and millions will be 
necessary to accomplish the great design." President La- 
mar, like Thomas Jefferson, realized that a system of edu- 
cation without a university to give it inspiration and direc- 
tion would be a failure. And to him, probably more than 
to any other man, is due the credit of the public school 
system of Texas, with the University at its head. The im- 
mense tracts of public lands were to provide funds for the 
perpetuation of the entire system. As a result of his message. 



S64 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Congress appropriated the following year to each county in 
Texas three leagues (13,284 acres) of public lands and set aside 
fifty leagues for the support of a university to be located 
in the future city of Austin. Later, when Texas became a 
state, the Legislature granted four leagues of land (17,712 
acres) to all counties organized after February 16, 1846. 

Furthermore, all subsequent legislation for the support of 
education depended mainly on liberal land grants. In a few 
instances, even, lands were donated to private institutions, as 
in the case of Rutersville College near La Grange. When it 
is recalled that the delegates to these early congresses of 
Texas, who cast their vote for the establishment of a univer- 
sity for the benefit of the youths of the state, yet lived in log 
houses and came to the sessions of Congress clad in coonskin 
caps, deerskin coats, leather pantaloons and moccasins, 
their plans for a university seem little short of wonderful. 
But their attention was too much occupied with blazing out 
homes in the wilderness, with Lidian fighting and with 
the troubles in Mexico, to put their recommendations into 
practical form until much later, when the more settled 
affairs of statehood enabled them again to make the matter 
of education a special concern. The legislature of 1858, 
however, adopted a measure of far-reaching importance. 
An act was passed granting a bonus of sixteen sections (10,240 
acres) to the railroads for each mile of track completed, 
provided the railroads should survey at the same time sixteen 
alternate sections which should become a land endowment 
for the support of the public school system of Texas, each 
tenth section to be the property of the unborn University of 
Texas. This grant was in addition to the lands hitherto ap- 



EDUCATION 365 

portioned to the common schools and to the University. 
By 1876, when this law was changed, under its operation 
there had been set apart nearly thirty million acres of land 
for the public schools and three million two hundred thou- 
sand as an endowment for the University. These lands 
were located in the best agricultural regions of the state and 
were worth, even in 1876, a large sum of money. Had the 
state held the settlers, who took the lands up and finally 
bought them, to rigid accounting, the school system of Texas 
would have had a princely endowment; though subsequent 
action, as we shall see, did not entirely impoverish the sys- 
tem. The Constitution of 1876 annulled the Act through 
which the University had become possessed of three million 
two hundred thousand acres of the richest Texas lands and, 
instead, granted to the paper institution one million acres, 
to be surveyed in the western and more unfertile districts of 
the state. Later an additional million acres were added. 
The institution has for an endowment at present consider- 
ably more than two million acres of land, in addition to 
$600,000 of bonds accruing from gifts and the sale of 
lands. What the University's lands may ultimately be 
worth (it has been the policy of the Regents of the Uni- 
versity to hold them for a rise in land values) when irrigation 
becomes possible or when minerals are discovered on them, 
is yet a matter of conjecture. At present they are mainly 
leased to cattlemen and yield an annual rental revenue 
amounting in round numbers to $160,000. 

State support of public schools has been continuously 
liberal. In addition to granting, for the immediate support 
of schools, all the proceeds of a dollar poll tax and one-fourth 



3GG THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

of all taxes collected to their support, the Constitution of 
1869 gave one-fourth of all the public domain as the perpet- 
ual public school fund. Later one-half of the public domain 
was granted for this purpose, and still later the entire body of 
public lands that remained in Texas were set aside for the 
benefit of the public schools. The present Constitution, 
adopted in 1876, provides that local taxation for school 
purposes should not exceed 20 cents on the dollar. This 
provision was amended in 1911, increasing the amount that 
can be levied in any local district for school purposes to 50 
cents on the dollar. The law has also recently been amended 
so as to extend the free school age from seven to twenty- 
one years. 

Long before any Americans lived in Texas the Catholic 
Church established the first schools in the state. These 
schools were located in the chain of missions founded by the 
Spaniards for the joint purpose of educating and converting 
the Indians, and for holding the land against rival claimants. 
While these efforts, so far as history reveals, proved entire 
failures, they illustrate the activity of the Catholic Church 
in educational matters. This activity was again manifest 
when Stephen F. Austin brought his first colonists to the 
state, then under Mexican rule. In each town established 
a block of ground was set aside for public school buildings, 
whose course of study should include the *' teaching of the 
catechism." There were really no public schools in Texas 
until 1854. Schools fostered by denominations other than 
the Catholics were surprisingly numerous, in addition to 
many private schools. Among the church schools that have 
survived from these early days is Baylor University, estab- 



EDUCATION 367 

lished at Independence, Texas, and now located at 
Waco. The charters of the three early Methodist colleges, 
McKenzie College at Clarksville, Wesleyan College at San 
Augustine, and Rutersville College in Fayette County, 
were later absorbed by Southwestern University, now a 
flourishing institution at Georgetown, Texas. The Southern 
Methodist University at Dallas, opened for its first session 
in the fall of 1915, promises to be an educational venture of 
importance. Other well-supported Methodist institutions 
are Kidd-Key College at Sherman, Texas Woman's College 
at Fort Worth, San Antonio Female College, San Antonio, 
all for women only, and numerous other smaller enter- 
prises. The Baptist Church maintains a chain of colleges, 
principally as feeders for Baylor University, the oldest Texas 
institution of higher learning and said to be the first univer- 
sity in the United States to admit women on equal terms with 
men. The Presbyterian Church supports Austin College at 
Sherman, Trinity University at W^axahachie, and several 
other colleges of reputation. Texas Christian University 
at Fort Worth, maintained by the Christian Church, and 
Baylor Female College at Belton, a Baptist institution for 
young women, are two other institutions that have had 
honorable careers. The most noteworthy privately en- 
dowed educational institution in Texas is Rice Institute, lo- 
cated at Houston, which is now opening its fourth session. 
It has an endowment amounting to more than ten millions 
of dollars and should do much to fix educational standards 
and to advance the educational ideals in the Southwest. 
The Texas Almanac, published annually by the Dallas 
News, lists forty -five "colleges" in Texas, some of which are 



368 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

poor, some indifferent, some good. Seventeen have stand- 
ard entrance requirements; many of the others have neither 
the money nor the faculty necessary to maintain a four years' 
college course. The Catholic Church and the Episcopal 
Church have various educational enterprises, the Catholics 
conducting a college in nearly every larger city of the state. 
Mr. Bryce, in his "American Commonwealth," tells about a 
president of a university in the West who gave a list of his 
faculty as consisting of himself, his wife, one son, and two 
daughters. This remarkable university might very well 
have been located in Texas, where in one county — a county 
of rather small population — operated at the same time nine 
so-called colleges, only one of which exists to-day — and that 
one has taken a more modest name. Rice Institute, else- 
where alluded to, with its large endowment, has possibili- 
ties of great good. Its presence in the state, with its ad- 
ministration unhampered either by the church or by politics, 
will exercise a wholesome influence on all higher education, 
and the freedom it enjoys will doubtless ultimately be granted 
in large measure to other competing educational institutions. 
As time goes on additional endowment will come to Rice 
Institute, as well as to many college enterprises fostered by 
the churches. 

According to statistics for 1912 more students in Texas 
attend church-supported colleges than are registered in state- 
supported colleges, the numbers being 14,887 and 8,370, re- 
spectively. It is not likely that this condition will long con- 
tinue. As the demand for technical education becomes more 
imperative, the state will doubtless multiply its institutions 
designed to fit boys and girls as experts in agriculture, engi- 



EDUCATION S69 

neering, domestic science, and what not. The expense in- 
volved in such schools will probably deter the churches from 
entering the field of vocational education and they will leave 
this work to the state, just as they have left the larger por- 
tion of high school and graded school training. 

The development of church education in Texas has, then, 
been entirely normal. Every church with any considerable 
membership invites students of college age to attend some 
educational institution — and some are excellent — ranking 
beyond the best high schools. As elsewhere, the churches 
do not enter into competition with the state except in college 
work. It ought to be said for them, however, that church 
colleges were in active operation long before the state, 
other than in ornately phrased resolutions, had begun any 
college enterprises. McKenzie College, at Clarksville, drew 
hundreds of robust boys to be swayed by a forceful president 
who flogged grown men when he thought fit, and who prayed 
at chapel with his eyes open and punctuated his prayers by 
reproofs and even by castigation, to be sure that no guilty 
person escaped detection. McKenzie College and other 
church institutions furnished for the past generation educated 
ministers, physicians, lawyers, teachers, business men, and 
the work was well done despite discouragingly meagre 
equipment, inadequate buildings, and poorly paid teachers. 
Even until to-day, when the church colleges are better 
financed, their faculties devote themselves to teaching boys 
and girls largely for reasons of loyalty and devotion to 
duty. Their lives are as noble examples of self-sacrifice as 
this age affords. That many church colleges have died does 
not mean that they have been failures. Thej'' were like a 



370 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

pure spring, that, so long as the water bubbled out, brought 
life and fertility to the waste places. 

For the purposes of this volume it is the public free school 
system that deserves special comment. Tuition in any 
school of the system, from the primary grades to the Univer- 
sity, is free to the world. (In the grades students must 
register according to law and be of a certain age.) In the 
University of Texas, after a matriculation fee of thirty dol- 
lars has been paid, no further tuition charge is exacted. The 
other seven institutions of higher learning are supported 
entirely by the state. Among these is the college for 
negroes, the Prairie View Normal and Industrial Institute. 
While the University, the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College, the four State Normals for whites, the College of 
Industrial Arts, and the Prairie View Normal, are really a 
part of the system of public schools, this term is ordinarily 
applied only to the graded schools. These schools, from the 
high school down to the lowest primary grade, are under the 
supervision of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
a state officer of the same rank and salary ($2,500) as the 
State Treasurer, State Land Commissioner, State Comp- 
troller, etc., and, as are all these officers, elected by popular 
vote for a term of two years. In addition to the State Su- 
perintendent's office force, other supervising ofiicials, known 
as county superintendents, are elected in each county con- 
taining 3,000 or more children of scholastic age. In other 
counties the county judge performs the superintendent's 
functions. 

Although the duties of these officials are mainly those of 
interpreting the school laws or of acting in advisory and re- 




im ,, 

' i « I i if : .=] 1 ii r^ 








INIaix Building and Cadet Corps of Agricultural and Mechanical 
College, College Station, Texas 




UXHERSITY OF TeXAS LiBR.\RY 




Carnegie Library, Fort Worth, Texas 




RoSENBEUti LlBUAKV, Ci ALVJCSTON, TkXAS 



EDUCATION 371 

viewing capacities, their work and influence is of first im- 
portance. The State Superintendent is the recognized 
authority on all matters of public education. Measures of 
legislative educational reform usually originate in his office, 
and he it is who is most influential in transforming popular 
educational reforms into statutes. 

Writers fond of dealing with round numbers commonly 
speak of Texas having a school fund valued at one hundred 
million dollars. The exact figures as shown in the report of 
the Superintendent of Public Instruction at the close of 
business August 31, 1914, are as follows: 

Permanent school fund: 

Bonds $18,204,363 

Land notes 47,067,427 

Unsold lands, 1,847,445 acres at $1.50 per acre 2,771,173 

Cash 35,028 

Total $68,077,991 

Permanent school fund belonging to different counties : 

Bonds $ 4,628,087 

Notes 5,379,890 

Other securities 81,517 

Lands, 334,264 acres, estimated value 2,085,448 

Cash 449,975 

Total $12,624,926 

State school fund 68,077,991 

Grand total $80,702,917 



If to this grand total be added a fair valuation of the build- 
ings and grounds and properties set aside for the eight in- 
stitutions of higher learning supported by the state, the total 



372 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

sum will not fall very far short of the estimate of one 
hundred million dollars. The state permanent school fund 
is held in immediate charge by the State Board of Education, 
which consists of the Governor, Secretary of State, and 
Comptroller. The Superintendent of Public Instruction is 
ex-officio Secretary of this Board. For the fiscal year ending 
August 31, 1914, the income from the state school fund 
amounted to $7,150,000. For the same year there was an 
additional public school fund income from county, district, 
and city special public school taxes of approximately 
$7,000,000. Thus Texas spent on her one million children 
of free school age for 1914, $14,150,000, or an average of $14 
for each child. 

The latest available data (1910) setting out the training of 
Texas teachers in the public schools shows that 7,651 (813 
are negroes) are graduates of standard high schools, normal 
schools, or colleges. The 1,452 graduates of colleges are 
principally engaged in high school teaching. All except a 
few of the public school teachers are required to pass exami- 
nations for certificates to teach. These certificates are of 
four grades, permanent, first, second, and third grade. A 
first-grade certificate holder receives adequate preparation in 
an ordinary high school, provided he supplements it with 
certain pedagogical subjects. At the present time, of the 
20,853 certificate holders in Texas, 532 have third grade, 
10,801 second grade, 5,837 first grade, and 3,683 permanent 
certificates. The lowest grade certificate is not to be further 
issued. 

As the State Board of Education consists of only three 
members, one of whom is appointed by the Governor, with 



EDUCATION 373 

the Governor as its head, the Board can be controlled by one 
person. It often happens, therefore, that poHtics plays some 
part in the administration of this fund, though it should be 
said that no taint of dishonesty or graft has even been suc- 
cessfully charged. A Governor will sometimes, however, as 
did Governor Colquitt, declare a greater pro rata than is 
justified by the amount of funds in hand, in order, perhaps, 
that his administration may win favor with the people. The 
state per capita apportionment is for 1915-1916 six dollars 
for each child, although the amount would certainly be 
larger had not the Governor insisted on an apportionment of 
eight dollars for each child for the previous year. Since the 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction is commonly the 
most] thoroughly posted man on questions of public educa- 
tion, his advice usually has influential weight, particularly in 
those matters wherein politics do not enter. 

The negro has for more than a generation been a scapegoat 
for backwardness in educational statistics ; but no longer can 
this old excuse do service in face of the facts. The records 
show Texas contains 275,346 negro children within the 
scholastic age, 7 to 21 years. Last year 162,000 of these 
negro children enrolled in the public schools of the state, and 
their attendance record was 57 per cent., compared with 66 
per cent, for the white children of the state. The United 
States census report for 1910 shows that negro illiteracy in 
Texas decreased during the decade 1900-1910 by 42,520 
persons, while the same report shows that illiteracy among 
the whites increased by 11,299. What influence immigra- 
tion had on these figures does not appear. 

It is a common belief that the negro population in Texas, 



374 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

as in other Southern states, is shamefully discriminated 
against in the distribution of the public school funds and in 
other relations with the State Department of Education. 
The facts are these: when a negro comes up for examina- 
tion, either before the county or state examining board, he is 
required to answer precisely the same questions as are given 
to white teachers. When his paper is read, however, it is 
more liberally graded. This may seem an injustice to the 
negro, but it is not meant to be so; for, were not this prac- 
tice followed, many a negro school would be without a 
teacher. When the state school funds are apportioned to a 
county, each county gets its exact pro rata according to the 
total number of white and negro children. Furthermore, 
when these same funds are apportioned by the counties, each 
district in the county gets its share in proportion to the 
scholastic population, white and colored. Whatever dis- 
crimination is practised in the distribution of the fund is done 
within the district as units. "Suppose," said the writer to a 
gentleman who had served as superintendent of one of the 
populous counties of Texas, "you had a district in your 
county containing two schools, one for the whites and one 
for the negroes, each having an equal number of students of 
free school age. How would you apportion the money be- 
tween these two schools.^" "If I gave the white teacher 
$60 a month," he answered, "I should allow the negro 
teacher $40 a month, and at the same time would divide the 
funds so that the white school could run longer." "But 
would not this be against the law and unjust to the negroes? " 
I urged. "No," he answered, "for the law provides that 
schools in the same district must run equally long as far as 



EDUCATION 375 

practicable, thus allowing some option to the trustees and the 
county superintendent of schools. As to the matter of injus- 
tice, negro children who live in the country, as a rule, more 
often have to work in the field than white children, and it 
would therefore be impossible for them to be in school as long 
as the whites. Furthermore, negroes pay only a very small 
per cent, of the taxes, their teachers are not so competent as 
the whites, and they certainly have no righteous claim to an 
equal division." 

It should be added that in communities levying local 
taxes it is customary to divide the income in proportion to 
the taxes paid by the white and negro citizens. In all the 
larger cities and towns, however, negro public schools uni- 
formly run as long as the white schools, although negro 
teachers do not draw salaries equal to those of the white 
teachers. Under the law requiring all school trustees to be 
able to read, write, and interpret constitutional educational 
provisions, negro school trustees are practically unknown in 
Texas. The law was framed frankly to exclude them, and 
the test put upon negro applicants for trustees would prob- 
ably puzzle a member of the Supreme Court of the United 
States. Wherever negro school trustees are found, they are 
simply permitted to serve through the personal favor of their 
white brethren. 

Under a state law graduates of twelve colleges in Texas 
who have taught for three years are issued life certificates as 
teachers. Two of the colleges recognized under this law, 
Bishop College and Wiley University, both located at Mar- 
shall, Texas, are institutions for negroes only. Wiley 
University, under the presidency of Dr. Dogan, a graduate 



376 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

of Columbia University of New York City, is regarded by 
the State Department of Education as the most efficient 
negro institution of higher learning in the state. 

As might have been expected, the national movement to 
consolidate small country schools has been slow in Texas, 
with its magnificent distances. Despite continuous agita^ 
tion for the past ten years not more than two hundred 
schools have yet been consolidated. The sparse population 
in some sections of the state and the impassable roads in the 
black land districts, where the population is congested, are 
two of the obstacles found difficult to overcome. In Texas, 
as elsewhere, local pride and prejudice likewise play their 
part in hindering the progress of this movement. 

The present Governor of Texas, Mr. James E. Ferguson, 
during his first administration has most likely won a strong 
claim to the title of Texas' greatest educational Governor. 
He was the first Governor, at least in recent years, who 
approved, without vetoing an item, all the educational ap- 
propriations made by a generous legislature, amounting to a 
total for two years of $5,500,000. Included in this sum 
was $1,000,000, to be apportioned in sums not to exceed $500 
to schools in the state with less than 200 students in attend- 
ance. Some of the other limitations of this fund tend to 
improve the entire school system. For example, the attend- 
ance record for the past year of any school receiving bene- 
fit from the fund must have been at least 50 per cent.; 
the district must carry a local school tax amounting to 50 
cents — the constitutional limit; the school building must 
be constructed according to modern principles of heat- 
ing, ventilation, and sanitation; teachers with professional 



EDUCATION 377 

training or experience must be employed; and a library and 
apparatus must be provided sufficient to carry on a course of 
study outlined by the state. 

According to the latest scholastic census there are 1,113,800 
persons of free school age in Texas, 215,146 of whom are 
negroes. The average school term in days for 1912 was 132. 
The same statistics show that there were 12,028 school 
buildings, which, including equipment and grounds, and ex- 
cluding the higher institutions, were valued at $31,000,000. 
The value of negro school property was $1,500,000. The 
total bonded indebtedness of the free school system amounts 
to $20,000,000. These bonds are largely held as an invest- 
ment by the state permanent school fund. 

The great growth in public school sentiment in Texas has 
come during the past twenty years. Upon request the 
present State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mr. W. 
F. Doughty, has pointed out some of the important steps in 
this progress : 

Twenty years ago there was hardly any school supervision in the state 
worthy of the name. In 1893, during the administration of Mr. J. M. Car- 
lisle, State Superintendent of PubHc Instruction, the Twenty-third Legis- 
lature passeda lawpermitting the commissioners' courts tocreate theoffice 
of county superintendent. In 1905, during the administration of IVIr.R.B. 
Cousins, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the law governing 
the creation of the office of county superintendent was amended to make 
the office mandatory in all counties having a population of 3,000 or more 
children of scholastic age and permitting the establishment of the office 
in counties having less that 3,000 children of scholastic age by process of 
law. Under the operation of this law we now have 125 county superin- 
tendents, who in most instances possess very satisfactory qualifications 
for their work. There is a strong and growing sentiment among the 
friends of education in the state favoring a law making the office of 
county superintendent mandatory in all counties of the state and placing 



378 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

his selection and the fixing of his salary in the hands of the county board 
of education. 

The growth of public high schools in this state during the past twenty 
years has been little short of marvellous. Twenty years ago the public 
high schools were few in number, and those in existence at that time were 
poorly organized. At the present time one is justified in expecting to 
find a modern high school, well adapted to the needs of the people sup- 
porting it, in every city, town, and village in the state; and it is not un- 
conmion now to find good rural high schools in country districts. In all 
probability the University of Texas has been the most potent influence 
in the development of public high schools in Texas. At any rate, the 
University took the initiative in encouraging the work and set the 
standards for the public high schools. 

Witliin recent years tlie State Department of Education has been 
active in promoting and establishing public high schools. There are 
now in successful operation in Texas approximately 1,000 public high 
schools subject to classification by the State Department of Education. 
In 1911, during the administration of Mr. F. M. Bralley, State Superin- 
tendent of Public Instruction, the Thirty-second Legislature enacted a 
law which created the county board of education empowered with au- 
thority to establish where practicable rural high schools. As a result 
T\^onderful progress has been made in building up good rm-al high schools 
in country districts. 

The Thirty-third Legislature passed a schoolhouse building law which 
regulates the construction of all schoolhouses in the state costing more 
than $400. The law came into operation at a time when schoolhouses 
were being built at an unprecedented rate,andon that account has wielded 
a most wholesome influence. In addition to this should be mentioned the 
clause of the million-dollar appropriation for rural schools, which re- 
quires that any district receiving an appropriation from this fund shall 
offer a schoolhouse building meeting substantially the requirements of 
the schoolhouse building law. As a result hundreds of old schoolhouses 
constructed before the schoolhouse building law was enacted are now 
being remodelled and made to meet the provisions of the law. 

Rapid development has been made in the training of teachers for 
public school work. Sam Houston Normal Institute,* the first normal 



*Established in 1879 mainly because of an agreement of the agent of the 
Peabody Fund to contribute $0,000 annually to its support. This support has 
now been withdrawn and all the normal schools are entirely under the care of 
the state. 



EDUCATION 379 

school of the state, was estabHshed at Huntsville in 1879; the North 
Texas State Normal College was established at Denton in 1899; the 
Southwest Texas State Normal School was established at San Marcos in 
1901; and the West Texas State Normal College was established at 
Canyon in 1909. The Thirty-fourth Legislature provided for the 
establishment of three additional normal schools, which schools cannot 
at present be located on account of a technicality of the law pertaining 
to the appointment of a locating committee. In addition, a School of 
Education is maintained in the University of Texas and departments for 
the training of teachers have been established in the Agricultural and 
Mechanical College, the College of Industrial Arts, and various church 
schools of the state. 

Prior to 1911 very few state certificates were issued and county cer- 
tificates iwere in general use. In 1911, during the administration of 
Superintendent Bralley, the Thirty-third Legislature passed a law mak- 
ing practically all certificates state certificates, and now all teachers' 
examinations are held under the direction of the State Department of 
Education, and the papers are graded by the State Board of Exam- 
iners. 

In 1903 the Twenty-eighth Legislature made an appropriation for the 
purpose of establishing departments of manual training in one high 
school at least in each congressional district of the state. Succeeding 
legislatures have added funds for this purpose and, in addition, have 
made liberal appropriations for the purpose of establishing departments 
in the public schools for teaching agriculture and domestic economy. 
As a result, interest in teaching vocational branches has been quickened 
and the people of this state have been made to appreciate more than ever 
before the value of these fundamental branches. 

The Thirty-second Legislature submitted an amendment to the Con- 
stitution providing for a six-year term of office for persons appointed as 
members of the boards of control of educational and eleemosynary in- 
stitutions of the state. This amendment was adopted by the people and 
accordingly the Thirty-third Legislature enacted a law carrying into 
effect the purpose of the amendment, which was to prevent the subjec- 
tion of these institutions to political changes or changes in the executive, 
leaving boards free to select men best suited to administer the affairs of 
the state's institutions of higher learning and to instruct the youth of the 
state without regard to political influence or political changes. 

The following very recent achievements are worthy of mention : The 
rural school law providing for a county board of education and author- 



380 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

izing the county superintendent and the county board to grade and 
classify the rural schools. 

The fact that the State Department of Education now has authority 
to inspect high school work with the view of giving each school a rating 
has caused trustees to provide better buildings and equipment, to employ 
professionally trained teachers, and to enrich their courses of study so 
that the schools of the state are brought in closer touch with the needs of 
the people in general. 

The enactment of a practicable compulsory school attendance law for 
the people of Texas by the Thirty-fourth Legislature marked a great 
victory for the cause of popular education in this state. 

The greatest single piece of school legislation within recent years was 
enacted into law in 1915, when the Thirty -fourth Legislature passed a 
bill providing an appropriation of $1,000,000 for the present biennium 
for the purpose of aiding the people of the weaker rural school districts 
of the state in their efforts to establish for their children adequate school 
facilities. 



The forty-acre campus of the University of Texas, with 
an amazing lack of foresight for the needs of a modern 
university plant, was selected by Stephen F. Austin himself 
and surveyed under his direction. The people afterward by 
a popular vote decided that only the main department, in- 
cluding the academic, law, and engineering schools, should 
have its home on Austin's site. Opened in 1883, the in- 
stitution has grown steadily in numbers and influence. 
More than 4,000 students, either in residence or by corres- 
pondence, are each year on its class rolls. From ts law de- 
partment come two members of President Wilson's Cabinet; 
its engineers are helping to make green the waste places 
throughout the world; its medical department is rated A 
plus by the American Medical Association. 

The medical department of the University of Texas, 
opened in 1891, is located at Galveston; the School of Mines 



EDUCATION 381 

is at El Paso; and the Agricultural and Mechanical College, 
while technically also a branch of the University, flourishes 
at College Station, more than one hundred miles away from 
Austin. Following the grant made by the Congress of the 
United States for the support of institutions of this char- 
acter, the Agricultural and Mechanical College was organ- 
ized and located in 1876, seven years prior to the beginning 
of the University of Texas. Since its organization it has 
been maintained as a separate and distinct school with its 
own governing board who apply independentl}^ for support 
at the hands of the legislature. While its manifest oppor- 
tunity for service has been to aid the overwhelmingly larg6 
agricultural classes n Texas, its best contribution thus far 
has been in turning out unusually well-equipped engineering 
students whose training compares quite favorably with that 
given by the Engineering Department maintained at the 
University. Recently under the stimulus of the Texas 
Farmers' Congress, the Texas Industrial Congress, and the 
increased revenues at hand and in prospect from grants of 
the National Congress under the Smith-Lever Bill, the work 
in Agriculture and allied subjects in the College has been 
much more thorough and has attracted a large number of 
students. As a part of the University, the A. & M. College is 
entitled to its portion of the lands originally set apart for the 
University of Texas. While speaking on this subject in the 
State Senate, Mr. A. W. Terrell said in 1882: "Had that 
law (Act of 1858) not been disturbed by the Constitution in 
1876, the University would now own three million two 
hundred thousand acres of land instead of having to apply to 
the legislature for a donation, the effect of which would be but 



382 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

so much restitution of its original endowment." This restitu- 
tion has, however, been going on continuously, as the legis- 
lature for a number of years has been making, on the whole, 
generous appropriations biennially for its support. The 
appropriations for two years for the University, excluding 
the Agricultural and Mechanical College, as approved by 
Governor James E. Ferguson, are for 1915-1916, $734,000; 
for 191G-1917, $730,000. If to these amounts be added 
$160,000 a year from the landed endowment and $40,000 a 
year from other sources (tuition is free to every one), it 
will be seen that the income for the present biennium 
of the University is more than $900,000. Separate and 
equally liberal appropriations have been made for the Agri- 
cultural and Mechanical College, for the Girls' Industrial 
College at Denton, for the four State Normal schools, the 
Prairie View Normal Industrial College (for negroes), for the 
State School for the Blind, the Deaf, and Dumb (both the 
whites and negroes) , and for the State Orphans' Home. The 
total appropriations for these institutions made by the 
Thirty-fourth Legislature for two years amount to more 
than $5,000,000. 

Texas people are interested in public education and wish 
the best advantages for their children. When the Univer- 
sity of Texas was organized in 1883, all of its professors were 
put on a salarj^ of $4,000 each, at that time about as much as 
any university paid to its instructors. Two of the men elected 
to chairs were W. T. Harris, formerly Commissioner of 
Education of the United States, and Judge T. M. Cooley of 
the University of Michigan. One of the first men elected 
to the presidency of the Agricultural and Mechanical College 



EDUCATION 383 

of Texas was Jefferson Davis. None of these men accepted 
the position to which he was elected, but the ambitions of 
the Texans in educational matters were thus reflected. 
Everywhere there are signs of progress. Most communities 
vote the constitutional limit of 50 cents on the $100 for 
school taxes, the total amount collected at this time from 
this source being more than $6,000,000 annually, and the 
increase from this single source is growing at a rate of ap- 
proximately a million dollars a year. Two new schoolhouses 
are built each day. The schoolmaster is abroad in the land. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE CHURCHES 

" There are no churches in Texas, no miBistei's of the gospel, no rehgious associ- 
ations. Mother, I am afraid the way from Texas to Heaven has never been 
blazed out." — William U. Jack in a letter from Texas to his mother in 1836. 

IT WOULD require a large volume to give any adequate 
notion of the work of the churches in Texas. The 
story of pioneer times, as well as the period of progress 
and development, is enwrought with stirring incidents where 
Protestant preachers of the gospel and priests of the Catholic 
faith have played a noble part. Side by side with the Spanish 
and French explorers marched the Franciscan friar with no 
weapon in his hand save the cross; Austin and his colonists, 
although compelled to give fealty to the Catholic Church, 
had scarcely built their first cabins before the Methodist 
itinerant, clad in sheepskin and blanket, followed closely by 
Baptist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal missionaries, was 
among them to exhort them to righteous living. They, as 
Governor Hubbard once said, "keep abreast v/ith the gold 
digger, the gambler, and the buffalo, as westward the star of 
empire moves." The early Protestant preachers, unlike 
their Catholic brethren, often travelled with rifle on shoulder 
and bowie knife in belt; while on many occasions a pistol lay 
beside the Bible as the preacher conducted the service in 
momentary fear of an Indian foray. Early records of the 
churches likewise give stirring pictures of affrays with des- 

384 



THE CHURCHES 385 

peradoes resentful of the plain speaking of these early men 
of God, who, robust and fearless, did not hesitate to practise 
muscular Christianity whenever it seemed needful, and many 
were the martyrs to the cause of righteousness, particularly 
in the case of Catholic priests, who were unacquainted with 
the habits of the Indians and often too trustful of their 
promises. 

According to Catholic chroniclers (who are justly proud of 
the fact) the first service held in the confines of Texas was 
conducted in 1685 by five French priests connected with 
LaSalle's party. Other historical writers seem to think that 
religious services were held at least one hundred years 
earlier at El Paso, Texas, where a Spanish settlement 
existed. At any rate, it is known that Catholic priests 
were with the Spanish troops who established themselves at 
El Paso as early as 1585. Between this date and 1718 the 
Franciscans in connection with Spanish soldiers set up 
various mission stations throughout Texas. A line of these 
missions reached from Brownsville to El Paso, if stations 
some hundred miles apart could be termed a line. Among 
these was a group of missions on the San Saba River in 
Menard County; another group was located as far east as 
Nacogdoches. The purpose of these missions is generally 
recognized to have been twofold: first, to hold the country 
against the encroaching French and to extend the limits of 
New Spain; second, to Christianize the Indians. A mission 
headquarters, therefore, consisted of a church and homes for 
the priests in charge, barracks for the Spanish soldiers who 
were always present, and quarters for the Indians who were 
being Christianized. " First," wrote one priest, "we have to 



386 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

transform these savages into men and then labor for their 
conversion to Christianity." For all practical purposes, 
therefore, every mission was a fort and around this fort were 
fields cultivated by the Indian converts who were given in- 
struction in agriculture as well as in the tenets of religion. 
The first Indian baptism in Texas occurred in 1703. After- 
ward in a single year Catholic priests, according to their 
church records, baptized as many as five thousand. 

Trouble between Mexico and Spain in the early part of the 
nineteenth century stopped the progress of mission work, 
and by 1825 the field was entirely abandoned. The priests 
were scattered and the Indian converts so completely sub- 
merged by the less-civilized tribes that it is difficult to see 
what permanent good was done by a large expenditure of 
money and one hundred and fifty years of noble sacrifice on 
the part of the priests. Of great interest to tourists, some of 
the mission churches, it is true, still stand as monuments to 
the brave men who gave their lives to the wilderness. The 
Chapel of the Alamo in San Antonio is the most famous; the 
Mission Concepcion, a few miles south of San Antonio, is the 
best preserved ; San Jose, sixty years in building, is the most 
beautiful architecturally. The Mission Ysleta, twelve miles 
from El Paso, is also notable. 

Active work was again undertaken by the Catholics under 
the leadership of Father Odin, Archbishop at New Orleans, 
who visited Texas in 1840, when only two priests were left in 
the republic, and both of these with such unsavory reputa- 
tions that he immediately discharged them from office. 
Through the work of himself and other priests who came 
after him, within twenty-one years there were fifty priests 




Fromink.xt Coi.lkc^k I'hk.si dents 
Edc;ar Gdkll Lo\ett F. M. Bralley 

William M. Rice Institute, Houston. Texas Girls' Industrial College, Denton, Texas 

W. B. BiZZELL 

Agricultural and Mechanical College, College Station, Texas 
Samuel Palmer Brooks Dr. R. J. IIyer 

Baylor I'niversity, Waco, Texas Southern Methodist I'niversity, Dallas, Texas 




Promim;nt Mimstkhs of Texas 

Rev. R. E. Vinson, ProshyLcrian, Rev. George W. Truett, Baptist. 

Austin Dallas 

Rev. W. D. Bradfiekl, Methodist, Very Rev. James M. Kirwin, Catholic, 

Dallas Port Lavaca 



THE CHURCHES 387 

at work in the state, with almost an equal number of churches 
and Catholic schools. Another notable Catholic leader of 
the time was Father DuBois, the second Bishop of Texas, a 
heroic man of great courage and endurance. All Texas and 
the Indian Territory were included in his bishopric. By 
1874 there were one hundred thousand Catholics in this 
territory, the larger number of them within the confines of 
Texas. Since then the church has grown steadily through- 
out the state. Many Catholic schools have been estab- 
lished in the various commercial centres, several of them 
offering college work. In every large city and in several 
small ones there is an infirmary under Catholic control, 
where the call of charity never fails of answer. These sani- 
tariums, nineteen in number, represent an outlay totalling 
perhaps two or three millions of dollars. Under the leader- 
ship of Rev. J. M. Kirwin, a man of uncommon force, the 
Knights of Columbus have influential organizations in the 
state, while at Austin the Paulist Fathers have a residence 
and chapel for the benefit of Catholic students in the Uni- 
versity of Texas. 

When the convention met at Washington, Texas, and the 
independence from Mexico was declared, so strong a preju- 
dice existed against all ministers of religion that a section 
was introduced into the constitution disfranchising all 
preachers and forever prohibiting them from occupying any 
position of trust in the republic. Wm. C. Crawford, a 
Methodist minister and member of this convention, had 
this provision so modified that it only prevented preachers 
from holding seats in Congress and from executive office. 
The same provision was embodied in the state constitution 



388 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

of 1846, but is no longer found in the state's organic law. A 
minister may, therefore, aspire to any public office in Texas 
and serve if elected. 

Until the year 1836 Texas had a state church and only 
Catholic ecclesiastes were permitted freely to exercise au- 
thority in spiritual matters, or to celebrate weddings. 
Little opposition, however, was given by the authorities to 
the work of Protestant preachers. H. S. Thrall relates that 
during the progress of a Methodist meeting in 1832 near 
Nacogdoches some one reported it to Colonel Piedras, the 
Mexican commander. 

Piedras asked: "Are they stealing horses?" 

"No." 

"Are they killing anybody .f*" 

"No." 

"Are they doing anything bad. f^" 

"No." 

"Then let them alone." 

Mr. Fiske, who writes interestingly of a visit to Texas in 
1831, tells of some incidents that occurred in Stephen F. 
Austin's original colony. 

"One day during ray stay at San Felipe I witnessed a ceremony which 
would have been regarded as a very extraordinary thing in our own 
country. A Roman CathoHc priest had arrived there, on a tour of visi- 
tation through the colony, and offered to perform baptismal and mar- 
riage ceremonies for all who might wish to receive them. Having been 
invited where he was to receive applications and administer, at a par- 
ticular house in the village, I attended with two or three friends, to see 
what would be done. Several settlers from the United States, who I 
knew had no inclination in favor of Roman Catholicism, and though 
they had received a Protestant education, presented themselves for 
baptism. These, as I had reason to believe, acted merely on a wish to 



THE CHURCHES 889 

recommend themselves to the favor of the government. Several after- 
wards came with their wives and were married again, lest the legality of 
the Protestant ceremony should not be acknowledged, and stand as a bar 
between their descendants and their estates. 

"The priest stated that he had married about five and twenty in one 
evening in some place in the country, where many colonists had assem- 
bled on timely notice being given of his visit. He w^as a jolly looking old 
man with very little of that sedate, venerable, or even intelligent aspect 
which we associate with an aged minister in our country. He showed 
some inclination to jest on the occasion. One of the young men who was 
standing ready for baptism caught my eye, and smiled. 'You must not 
laugh,' said the old man; 'if you do, you will always afterwards be laugh- 
ing Christians : if you are sober now, you will be sober Christians all your 
lives.'" 

Next after the Catholics, and near to them in numbers in 
Texas, came the Methodists, a preacher of which church first 
held services in Red River County in 1818. Six years later 
the first Methodist church was organized in that locality, the 
churches then being called societies. James P. Bowie of 
bowie knife fame and WilHam J. Travis, both of whom fell at 
the Alamo, were among the early supporters of the Metho- 
dist Church. Bowie on one occasion protected some 
preachers from the attacks of a mob, and Travis contributed 
twenty-five dollars to the support of the first Methodist 
minister in Texas. These early Methodist ministers were 
robust men of indomitable energy. Of Rev. John W. Kinney 
Mr. Thrall writes: "He was negligent, even careless, in his 
dress. With unkempt hair, buckskin suit, and collar open, 
his appearance was anything but clerical. A Methodist 
lady of intelligence and refinement heard one Sunday morn- 
ing that there would be preaching in the town, and, ordering 
her carriage, rode in. Mr. Kinney came sauntering in and 
took a seat at the table prepared for the speaker. He was 



390 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

just in from a surveying expedition, wearing buckskin 
hunting shirt and breeches and cowhide boots. *Is it pos- 
sible,' said the lady to herself, ' that I have come to Texas to 
hear such a looking human as that preach?'" But the 
chronicle goes on to relate that Mr. Kinney when in his 
prime could stir the hearts of men as the leaves of the forest 
are tossed to and fro by a passing tornado. 

Rev. H. G. Horton, still living in Seguin, Texas, writes 
even at a later date of the hard conditions under which 
ministers labored. He says on one occasion: "My dragoon 
pistol (which could kill an Indian at seventy -five yards) was 
placed on the stand by the side of the Bible. At the close 
of the morning service an old-fashioned class meeting was 
opened, the leader passing among the brethren and sisters 
and inquiring after the welfare of their souls, having a big 
six-shooter strapped to one side and a bowie knife to the 
other. In the midst of the meeting a scout dashed into 
camp shouting, 'Indians.' Some of the sisters had been 
making a racket over the conversion of one or two cowboys, 
and one good sister had gone into a trance." It may be 
needless to add that the trance passed away quickly. 

Little regular ministerial work could be done under such 
conditions, and not until 1837 was there regular work at- 
tempted by the Methodist Church. The first superintend- 
dent of the Texas mission was Martin Ruter, and with him 
came Littleton Fowler and Robert Alexander. Mr. Fowler 
founded the Methodist Church in Houston, though the 
building was not erected until 1843, largely through the 
efforts of Mr. C. Shearn, after whom the church is still 
called. T. O. Summers, a distinguished Methodist minister, 



THE CHURCHES 391 

after serving the Galveston church in 1840, became one of 
the pastors of the Shearn church. 

At first Texas was a part of the Mississippi Conference. 
The first Texas Conference, inchiding the entire RepubHc ex- 
cepting a small strip on the Red River, was organized in 1840 
with nineteen ministers attending. From the beginning 
missionary work was attempted among the Germans and 
Mexicans; for the Indians little was ever done. The Texas 
Christian Advocate, yet a most influential paper, was first 
published in Brenham in 1847. After shuttling between 
Houston and Galveston for a number of years the paper was 
finally moved to Dallas, the commercial centre of the state, 
where it continues to prosper. During the exciting period 
prior to the war some of the favorite secession orators were 
Methodist ministers. At the Secession Convention held in 
Austin one of these orators spoke for two hours. When the 
war did break out many ministers went as chaplains, some as 
ordinary soldiers, and a few wearing epaulettes. Naturally 
during the war all church work lagged. 

One of the outstanding features of Methodist Church 
activity in Texas has been the attempt to multiply acade- 
mies and colleges more or less directly under the manage- 
ment of the church. There have probably been fifty ven- 
tures, more likely a hundred, which have proved entirely 
abortive. The schools, because of lack of wisdom in their 
location and financing, or withdrawal of support, soon 
dwindled and died. Much loss of propert}^ has been oc- 
casioned by these disasters, though of course some good has 
been done. Among the most prominent of the early colleges 
were: Rutersville, Wesleyan College at San Augustine, 



S92 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

McKenzie Institute at Clarksville, Soule College at Chappel 
Hill, Andrews Female College at Chappel Hill, Waco Female 
College at Waco, and Marvin College at Waxahachie. The 
tendency to multiply educational institutions has now been 
somewhat curbed, and several excellent schools under the 
care of this church, elsewhere listed, are in prosperous condi- 
tion. 

Texas Methodism has furnished two bishops to the 
Southern Branch of the Church, Seth Ward and E. D. 
Mouzon. Bishop Mouzon is also Dean of the Theological 
Department of the Southern Methodist University at Dal- 
las. Other notable ministers of great prominence and in- 
fluence were J. W. P. McKenzie, who established McKenzie 
College; I. G. John, for many years editor of the Christian 
Advocate; F. A. Mood, the founder and for many years pres- 
ident of Southwestern University; Dr. G. C. Rankin, a 
preacher of power and a forceful writer; and Dr. W. D. 
Bradfield, at present editor of the Advocate. 

Rev. Caleb F. Ives began the work of the Episcopal 
Church in Matagorda in 1878. Twenty years later the field 
in Texas was considered of sufficient importance for the 
permanent and regular assignment of a bishop, the Rev. 
Alexander Gregg. A New Orleans newspaper publishes 
some impressions of an early Episcopal clergyman, the Rev. 
H. M. Pierce, which helps one to understand the Texas of 
that time: 

"Neither man, woman, nor child is considered naturalized until they 
can ride a pitching horse, run down a mule rabbit, rope a wild cow, drink 
bad water and call it good. Texas is a curious country, a paradox. 
Everything is in the superlative, or contradictory, or marvellous. It \i 



THE CHURCHES 395 

the richest and the poorest; it has the best land and the meanest water; is 
the hardest country to hve in, and has the most to hve on; the days are 
the hottest, and the nights are the coolest; here are the most rivers, and 
the least water; the best roads, and the slowest travel; the finest building 
material, and the least use made of it; there are more clouds, and less 
rain; more plains, and less timber; more ropes to tie horses, and more 
estrays; a poor country for farming, and yet the most productive; the 
least work, and the largest yield; the horses are small, the cattle big; 
the frogs have horns, and the rabbits have ears like mules; the people are 
intelligent without general education, inventive without being tricky, 
refined without mannerism, rich without money, hospitable without 
houses, bold, generous, and brave. In fine, here is an empire in extent 
and resources, but in the slowest process of evolution; and yet destined 
to population, 'wealth, and power. There is much to admire, but little 
to deplore; many things to enchant, but few to offend; and for the 
people and their institutions there is a splendid future." 

Within ten years after Bishop Gregg came to Texas the 
membership of the church had quadrupled, and five years 
later two additional Missionary Bishops were added to the 
*'vast see, territorially sufficient for a college of Apostles." 
At present Texas is divided into four bishoprics, the Episco- 
pal cities being Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Amarillo. 
Bishop Garrett of Dallas, Bishop Johnson of San Antonio, 
and Bishop Kinsolving of Austin have all impressed them- 
selves strongly on the life of Texas — all of them men of 
vision, courage, and intellect, consecrated to the elevation of 
mankind. St. Mary's Academy for young women, Dallas, 
is the most conspicuous educational venture of the Church in 
Texas, although a promising beginning has been made at 
Austin, the enterprise, Grace Hall and Chapel, being thus 
far devoted only to the care of young women students of the 
University of Texas. 

Among the Protestant churches the Baptists deserve 



394 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

to rank along with the Methodists in furnishing pioneer 
preachers to aid in conquering the wilderness. Freeman 
Snialley, a Baptist minister, preached in Red River County 
as early as 1820, while Thomas G. Pilgrim organized the 
first Sunday-school in Texas at San Felipe in 1829. Of 
course this was done in violation of the law, but the alcaldes 
were indulgent and the Catholic influences in Texas usu- 
ally generous. T. N. Morrell organized the first Baptist 
church in 1837 at Washington. Among the famous Baptist 
preachers of early days was R. E. B. Baylor, after whom Bay- 
lor University at Waco is named. In addition to being a 
preacher, Baylor was a noted Indian fighter, a teacher, a 
member of the Texas Congress, and for a time Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the Republic. He and two other Baptist 
preachers, T. W. Cox and T. N. Morrell, participated prom- 
inently in the Plum Creek fight with the Indians, one of the 
bloodiest battles ever fought with the redskins in the con- 
fines of Texas. 

In 1848 the individual Baptist churches in Texas were or- 
ganized into a state convention. At that time Dr. R. C. 
Burleson had become prominent in educational and church 
affairs. From 1851 to 1897 he was j^resident of the first 
college enterprise of the Baptist denomination, now known 
as Baylor University. The Burleson family has played an 
important role in Texas affairs since colonization days, 
Albert S. Burleson, now Postmaster-General, being one of the 
younger members who has attained distinction. In early 
years there was lively discord among Texas Baptists on the 
question of the location and support of church institutions of 
higher learning. After this ciuestion was settled, by estab- 



THE CHURCHES 395 

lishing Baylor University at Waco and Baylor Female 
College at Belton, feeling became even more bitter over 
questions of policy in the matter of church government. 
Individual churches, believing strongly in the doctrine of 
independence, feared the domination of state conventions. 
All these difficulties seem to have been smoothed away, 
and every branch of Baptist Church activity is now pros- 
perous. Rev. E. C. Routh, the editor and manager t)f the 
Texas Baptist Standard, a paper of wide influence published 
at Dallas, estimates that there are in Texas 400,000 white 
Baptists and 200,000 negro Baptists. Mr. Routh also 
estimates that the members contributed to all purposes 
during 1915 two and one-quarter million dollars. Three 
hundred and twenty-two missionaries were employed the 
past year, through whom fifty-seven new churches were 
organized and fifty-one thousand new members secured. 
The church owns thirteen schools in Texas, ten of them 
aspiring to college rank, in addition to a theological seminary 
at Fort Worth and the medical college at Dallas. The 
total value of the property is probably not far short of five 
million dollars. Like the Catholics, the Baptists support 
sanitariums; two are already in operation, one in Dallas 
and another in Houston; sites have been secured in San 
Antonio and Waco for similar institutions. The largest 
orphans' home in Texas, founded and until now conducted 
by Dr. R. C. Buckner, is located near Dallas, and cares 
for six hundred orphans. The church and sanitarium 
property total in value nearly eleven million dollars. In 
addition to R. E. B. Baylor and R. C. Burleson, other 
Baptist ministers have impressed themselves upon the 



396 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

state: the late Rev. J. B. Carroll, a strong preacher and for 
years president of the theological seminary; Rev. J. B. 
Gambrell, present secretary to the Executive Board of the 
General Convention; and Rev. Geo. W. Truett of Dallas, 
by many people regarded as the most eloquent minister in 
Texas. 

Rev. Hugh Wilson is said to have organized a Presby- 
terian Church as early as 1838 at San Augustine. Two 
years later Rev. Daniel Baker, whose name is preserved in 
Brownwood, Texas, where Daniel Baker College is located, 
arrived in Galveston as a missionary. The next year Dr. 
Baker was present at the organization of the first presbytery 
in Texas at Independence. The various branches of this 
church work together harmoniously. The Presbyterians 
have fostered several good colleges in Texas. Austin Col- 
lege at Sherman takes its name from Stephen F. Austin, the 
Father of the Republic. Trinity College at Waxahachie 
is another well-equipped school for both boys and girls, 
while Weatherford and Milford each support a Presby- 
terian school for girls. The total valuation of school 
property held by the Synod of Texas amounts to more 
than one and one-half million dollars. A well-equipped 
Presbyterian theological seminary located at Austin 
should be mentioned. The Presbyterians give annually 
to all causes in their church more than half a million 
dollars. 

Quickly following the Presbyterians, the Disciples of 
Christ, better known as Campbellites, began to preach in 
Texas, and so rapidly has the church grown that it is now 
fifth in rank in Texas. Some of the widely known adherents 



I 



THE CHURCHES 397 

to this church are Charles Carlton, who for many years 
conducted a school at Bonham, and Addison and Randolph 
Clark, the founders of Add-Ran College, which is now Texas 
Christian University, an institution of good standing and 
extensive patronage, located at Fort Worth. 

Accurate, comprehensive, and recent statistics of the 
churches are not available. Based upon the population of 
1910 and allowing the same proportionate increase in 
population and in church membership as prevailed in the 
decade from 1900 to 1910, the population of Texas on Jan- 
uary 1, 1916, was more than four and one-quarter millions. 
The estimated church population was 1,500,000, of which 
number about 400,000 were Catholics. If these figures are 
correct — and they probably approximate the truth — the 
number of members in the leading denominations in Texas 
would run about as follows: Baptists, 490,000; Catholics, 
375,000; Methodists, 375,000; Disciples of Christ, 60,000; 
Presbyterians, 85,000; Lutherans, 35,000; Protestant Ej^is- 
copals, 20,000; Jewish, 15,000; miscellaneous churches, 
45,000. Among the churches not mentioned in the fore- 
going are the Adventists, Congregationalists, Dunkards, 
Friends, Latter Day Saints, Spiritualists, Unitarians, and 
Universalists. Other religious statistics as given by the 
Texas Almanac published by the Galveston-Dallas Neivs 
in 1914 are as follows: Number of church organizations 
12,500; number of church buildings, 9,456; value of 
property, $26,890,675; amount of debt, $1,356,000, num- 
ber of Sunday-schools, 9,600; number of Sunday-school 
teachers, 63,500; number of Sunday-school pupils, 600,000; 
seating capacity of churches, 2,900,000; value of parson- 



398 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

ages, $3,000,000. The Young Men's Christian Association 
in Texas has forty active organizations, nineteen of which 
own buildings and equipment. Among these organiza- 
tions are ten for railroad men and twenty for college men. 
The total membership for the state is 14,173, with an average 
daily attendance of 5,000. The total yearly budget for 
the forty organizations is about $250,000, the total property 
value of their holdings $1,350,000. The Young Women's 
Christian Association has five organizations, with a member- 
ship of 6,700, and property valued at $372,000. 

In an attempt to tell the story of the churches, the names 
of great preachers and many facts and figures have been 
crowded together. Vain, however, is the effort to depict 
the spiritual work that has been performed or to make 
known the consecrated souls by whom the work was done. 
In every crisis the apostles of the church have been on 
hand to help and succor. Devout and strong men founded 
the churches in Texas; devout and strong men yet control 
them. Historians usually pass such men by with onl}^ a 
word of comment, but no thoughtful person can be blind to 
the fact that their noble and unselfish lives, their stand 
on questions of moral moment, are among the very powerful 
civilizing influences in the modern state; for they helped 
mould the public sentiment afterward crj^^stallized into law. 
So varied is the story, so wealthy in incidents are the de- 
tails, that a bare mention only of some outstanding phases 
can be crowded into one chapter. The preceding inad- 
equate comments are drawn from a mass of biographical 
data of individuals. No writer for any one of the churches, 
or all of them, has yet attempted to fuse into a connected 



THE CHURCHES 399 

story an account of the work of evangelization in Texas. 
It is not enough to say that the churches have been an 
important element in the building of Texas; the finer things 
for which the churches labor alone make the building of 
Texas worth while. 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE NEWSPAPERS 

THE COUNTRY EDITOR 

He might have been a millionaire. 

And won financial fame. 
Or sat in a director's chair, 

Had money been his aim. 
He chose instead to spend his years 

In service poorly paid, 
And with the pastepot and the shears 

An humble living made. 

He chronicled the town's events — 

The local goings-on; 
His fellow- townsmen's hopes and bents 

Inspired his lexicon. n 

He felt the public pulse that beat 

Around him, and he tried 
To make his little country sheet 

A thing of local pride. 

— Editor and Publisher {New York). 

A CIRCULAR asking for certain information was sent 
recently to all the papers of Texas. Scrawled on the 
back of one returned circular which had found its 
way to the quondam editor of a now defunct "Rustler" 
were the following phrases: "Suspended publication," 
"Turned up its toes to the daisies," "Hors de combat," 
"Rustled out." In short, the "Rustler" rustled no more. 
This is by no means an unusual experience. The death 
rate among Texas papers is yearly just about what the 
human death rate is. But the birth rate is higher than the 

400 



THE NEWSPAPERS 401 

death rate, as evidenced by the fact that, since 1869, when 
N. W. Ayer gives ninety -five pubHcations in the state, there 
has been a steady increase in the number until 1915, when 
the same authority places the number at 1,081. The 1916 
Ayer Directory gives 1,043, which means that there w^ere 
many fatalities during 1915. The years of decline in 
the number of publications issued in the state correspond 
roughly, of course, to years of commercial depression. For 
instance, in the year 1873 there was a net loss of one from 
that of the preceding year, in 1876 a net loss of five, in 1889 
a net loss of four. But the greatest loss recorded is for the 
year 1915, just adverted to, when the number of publications 
fell from 1,081 to 1,043, while the losses of several other years, 
from a percentage standpoint, are almost as great: 1897, a loss 
of fifteen; 1899, a loss of thirteen; 1902, there was no gain, 
while in 1903 there was a net loss of fifteen. In the years 
1893 and 1907 the birth and death rates practically bal- 
anced. 

The years of greatest net increase are 1891, when there 
were sixty -nine more births than deaths; 1883, which shows 
a net gain of forty -four; 1885, a net gain of forty -five; and 
1910, a net gain of thirty-nine. 

The most important publication centres of Texas are San 
Antonio, Houston, and Dallas, the latter city being the 
home of more than fifty newspapers, magazines, and periodi- 
cals, thus, with the exception of Nashville, leading the en- 
tire South as a publishing centre. 

Wliile the growth in number of publications in the last 
fifty j^ears has been steady and strong, it has been no more 
phenomenal than the rise in circulation of the more impor- 



402 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

tant papers of the state. There are now seven weekhes 
having circulation between 10,000 and 20,000, and one, an 
agricultural journal, Texas Farm and Ranch, distributes 
96,000 copies of each issue. There are four semi-weeklies 
whose circulation exceeds 10,000 each, three ranging from 
15,000 to 34,000, and the remaining one distributing 150,000 
of each issue. In the same general class are four monthlies, 
three of which have a circulation of 19,000, 20,000, and 
30,000, respectively, and one of which reaches a monthly 
circulation of 129,000. Classifying the publications with 
regard to a circulation of 10,000 or more, we find seventeen 
dailies included, seven of which issue from 10,000 to 20,000; 
nine from 20,000 to 50,000, and one having a circulation 
greater than 50,000. 

Publications in languages other than English are few in 
Texas. German publications lead in number with twenty- 
four, Spanish papers are second with nineteen, the others are 
rather in the nature of accidents: Italian three, Bohemian 
two, Polish one, and Swedish one. 

There are seventeen religious periodicals published in 
Texas, three of which have a circulation of more than 
15,000 each. 

Of the numerous attempts to establish a literary magazine 
the only one that has attained a large circulation is Holland's^ 
which has run for several years over the 100,000 mark. 
And even this magazine is more in the nature of a woman's 
magazine, although the literary feature is steadily empha- 
sized. 

The great majority of the papers of Texas are served, of 
course, by the Associated Press. It has six or seven morning 




San Fernando Cathedral, San Antonio 
Foundatitjns laid in 1734. The oldest church in Texas yet used as a house of worship 




Georce H. Dealev 
Vice-President and General Manager, Dallas-Cjalveston News 




Plii)U)i:rtiph by Clkis. Erunii A nwld 
Dallas News Blilui.ng, Dallas 
The home of a great newspaper of tlie South 



THE NEWSPAPERS 403 

papers and afternoon papers whicli take the full leased wire 
report. It also has a large number of pony papers—that 
is, small papers which take a certain number of words 
ranging from fifty to fifteen hundred a day according to the 
ability of the paper to pay for the service. The United 
Press has one full leased wire afternoon paper in Texas and a 
large number of ponies. It also serves a number of after- 
noon papers with a service for publication on Sunday morn- 
ing. The International News Service has one leased wire re- 
port coming into Texas to a morning paper, and also supplies 
the Saturday night service to several papers which get out 
Sunday morning editions. 

The oldest surviving paper now published in Texas is the 
Galveston Neivs, which was established in 1842. The San 
Antonio Express, old as papers go in Texas, was established 
during the last year of the Civil War, as was the Jefferson 
Jhnplecute. It is quite certain that a paper was established 
in Dr. James Long's colony at Nacogdoches as early as 
1819, although the name of it has been lost. The small 
sheet which was printed in 1816, "when Galveston was 
occupied by Commodore Aury, Colonel Mina and Captain 
Perry," containing "army orders and kindred matters," 
could scarcely be called a newspaper. There were, how- 
ever, in the twenties and thirties some real "root-hog-or-die 
newspapers," as one Texas editor expressed it. Texas 
journalism seems to have begun with the establishment in 
1829, by Godwin Brown, of the Texas Gazette at San Felipe 
de Austin. It lived three years, thus setting the pace in 
longevity for Texas papers of that early era. In 1830 the 
Texas Gazette and Brazoria Commercial Advertiser was begun 



404 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

in Brazoria by W. D. Anthony. In 1832 Anthony purchased 
the San Fehpe papers, and his two papers were consoHdated 
and pubhshed under the name of the Constitutional Advocate 
and Brazoria Advertiser until his death, a year afterward. 
The next three or four years saw the birth and demise of the 
following papers: Texas Republican, The Advocate of the 
People's Rights (Brazoria); Telegraph and Texas Register 
(San Felipe de Austin); the Commercial Intelligencer 
(Galveston) ; also a paper was started in Matagorda and one 
in Nacogdoches, the names of which, even, have vanished 
from the memory of man. 

In 1842 the Galveston News first saw the light, it being 
the only paper of that early era now alive. The forties, 
fifties, and sixties could not have been years of rapid jour- 
nalistic growth in Texas, since the average annual excess of 
birth rate over death rate in those decades was but three. 
In other words, at the end of the thirty-year period there 
were but ninety -five Texas papers in existence. 

Recognizing the imperative demand for better trained 
journalists in the state, and following the lead of several 
other higher institutions of learning in the country, the 
University of Texas in 1914 established a School of Journal- 
ism, in which there are more than fifty students preparing 
for journalistic work. 



CHAPTER IX 

UNION LABOR AND LIFE INSURANCE 

T|r "T NION labor has had a powerful influence upon leg- 
I islation in Texas in the last few years. It was not 

^^-^ until 1 903 that a Joint Legislative Board was formed 
representing all the unions and thus presenting in the leg- 
islature a solid front for labor measures approved by the state 
federation. The activities of organized labor in legislation 
began as far back as 1889 when the State Legislature Board of 
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was formed. Other 
railroad brotherhoods at one time or another attempted to 
maintain legislative boards with varying successes, until 
it became apparent to the railroad men that they must in 
some way get the united support of all organized labor in 
order to become really effective in securing legislation 
favorable to labor and in defeating unfavorable legislation. 
It was upon motion of the railway brotherhoods that the 
idea of the Joint Legislative Board under the general di- 
rection of the state federation of labor (formed in 1900) 
came into existence. This Board has been active in legis- 
lation at every legislature which has been in session since 
its formation. It makes a regular biennial report to the 
state federation containing an account of the measures 
supported and those thought to be inimical which were 
opposed, together with a synopsis of the record of each 
legislator, his nativity, address, occupation, etc. 

405 



406 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

The two big achievements of labor in the field of legis- 
lation, at least those that are so considered by labor leaders, 
are the creation of the Industrial Accident Board and the 
Department of Labor. The former measure, passed by the 
Thirty -third Legislature, is referred to generally as "The 
Workmen's Compensation Act," and provides for compen- 
sation for certain employees and their representatives for 
personal injuries sustained in the course of employment, 
and for the creation for an insurance association to insure 
and guarantee such payments, and also for the investi- 
gation of claims and adjudication thereof for consenting 
parties. The operation of this law has not been entirely 
satisfactory to labor, and during the last session of the 
legislature (thirty-fourth) it was sought to amend the same 
in such a way as to perfect its administrative features, 
confer more powers on the Board, penalize insurance com- 
panies for failure to make prompt settlements on order 
from the Board, and, in other ways, strengthen the meas- 
ure. However, none of these amendments were passed, 
pending a decision of the Supreme Court as to the consti- 
tutionality of a part of the law which had been certified 
up to it by the Third Court of Civil Appeals. 

The office of Commissioner of Labor was created in 1909. 
The work of this office is largely that of collecting and 
compiling statistics concerning the condition of the laboring 
classes in the state. The Commissioner is now engaged 
in the work of making a complete survey of the condition 
of labor in all of the important industries of the state, ex- 
cept, of course, the laborers engaged in agriculture. This 
survey will show, when completed, wages obtaining in the 



UNION LABOR AND LIFE INSURANCE 407 

principal industries, the cost of living, and the living con- 
ditions of the laborers. 

Speaking, generally, of the labor union movement in 
Texas, Mr. W. E. Leonard, Instructor in Economics in the 
University of Texas, says in his essay, "The Population of 
Texas and Its Potentialities as a Labor Force": 

" It is from the manufacturing, mining, and transportation industries, 
together with the building trades, that labor unions are chiefly recruited 
in this State. A vigorous forward movement in the organization of 
labor seems to have begun shortly before 1900. In that year the State 
Federation of Labor was organized, and this not only gave coherence to 
the union movement, but ever since then it has been an active organizing 
agent. Its present strength and influence is unquestionably great, and is 
increasing. There are in the State some 600 locals, and in twenty cities 
are found central labor councils, these representing the local interests of 
labor in any community. These local and city councils are federated with 
the State organization, and this with the American Federation of Labor. 

"The trade union type undoubtedly prevails, although there are a few 
' industrial unions,' as among the dock workers, and in the brewing in- 
dustry. It is this latter type of organization which promises a rapid 
growth in the future. The radical forms of unionism have not yet ap- 
peared in Texas, nor has socialism any very strong following among the 
wage earners of the State. 

"The most conservative statement as to the number of union men in 
Texas is 50,000, and of these 10,000 belong to the railway brotherhoods. 
Other estimates place the number at 90,000, but the former number is 
more likely the truer statement. The laws of Texas are very favorable 
to organization, and there is no reason to doubt that unionism, among 
those groups where it is possible, will rapidly increase. 

"It is greatly to the credit of the movement that only conservative 
policies have been advocated. On the whole, the labor press of the 
State is well edited, and has no very radical tendencies. In all there are 
some twenty periodicals which reach a rapidly growing labor constitu- 
ency." 

The Robertson Law, becoming effective July 12, 1907, 
provided, among many other things, that a life insurance 



408 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

company in order to do business in Texas had to invest and 
keep invested in Texas securities 75 per cent, of the "aggre- 
gate amount of the legal reserve required by the laws of the 
state of its domicile to be maintained on account of its 
policies of insurance in force written upon the lives of 
citizens of this state." The phrase "Texas securities," 
though carefully defined, offers, however, to the insurance 
companies a wide range of stable securities. Rather than 
comply with its provisions, the following companies with- 
drew from the state: Columbian National, Boston, Mass.; 
Des Moines Life, Des Moines, Iowa; Equitable Life, New 
York, N. Y.; Fidelity Mutual, Philadelphia, Pa.; Germania 
Life, New York, N. Y.; Home Life, New York, N. Y.; Man- 
hattan Life, New York, N. Y.; Massachusetts Mutual, 
Springfield, Mass.; Mutual Benefit Life, Newark, N. J.; 
Mutual Life of New York, N. Y. ; National Life, Montpelier, 
Vt.; New York Life, New York, N. Y.; Northwestern 
Mutual, Milwaukee, Wis; Penn Mutual, Philadelphia, Pa.; 
Prudential, Newark, N. J.; Reliance Life, Pittsburg, Pa.; 
Security Mutual, Binghampton, N. Y. ; Travelers' Insurance 
Co., Hartford, Conn.; Union Mutual, Portland, Me.; Wash- 
ington Life, New York, N. Y. ; Wisconsin Life, Madison, 
Wis. 

This wholesale withdrawal caused many Texas companies 
to enter the insurance field. The names and capital stock of 
the Texas companies doing business in 1916 follow: Ama- 
rillo National Life, Amarillo, $150,000; American National, 
Galveston, $250,000; Amicable Life, Waco, $820,000; Bank- 
ers' International Life, Austin, $100,000; Equitable Life, San 
Antonio, $100,000; First Texas State Insurance Co., Galves- 



I 



UNION LABOR AND LIFE INSURANCE 409 

ton, $100,000; Fort Worth Life, Fort Worth, $105,700; Gibral- 
tar Life, Paris, $135,000;' Guarantee Life, Houston, $100,000; 
Great Southern Life, Houston, $500,000; Prudential Life of 
Texas, San Antonio, $140,800; San Jacinto Life, Beaumont, 
$100,000; Southern Union Life, Waco, $191,480; Southland 
Life, Dallas, $294,210; Southwestern Life, Dallas, $250,000; 
Texas Life Insurance Co., Waco, $200,000; Two Republics 
Life, El Paso, $150,000; Wichita Southern Life, Wichita 
Falls, $151,550. / 

The total amount of assets of Texas life insurance com- 
panies as shown by their reports made December 31, 1914, is 
$18,000,000; while these same reports show the total amount 
of insurance carried to be $172,000,000, and the total num- 
ber of policies, 261,012. 



CHAPTER X 

PROHIBITION AND LOCAL OPTION 

THE first liquor law In Texas, passed in 1837 by the Con- 
gress of the Republic, merely levied an occupation tax 
upon a liquor merchant, which was no higher than the 
tax paid by a merchant dealing in any other product. The tax 
was intended to defray the expense of the government, and no 
attempt was made at traffic regulation. In 1840, however, an 
annual tax of $250 was placed on the liquor seller in addition 
to a bond of $2,500 to "constantly keep an orderly and rep- 
utable house, and to prevent gambling, quarrelling, and 
other misconduct." Under the present law a general liquor 
dealer pays an annual tax of $750, and must operate un- 
der a bond of $5,000. A dealer in malt liquors pays a 
yearly tax of $125, and is under a bond of $1,000. Further- 
more, in each bond are twelve conditions, the violation of 
any one of which may bring forfeiture of the license. The 
most recent enactments affecting the saloons are the Sunday 
closing law and the 9:30 closing law. It may be said that 
both of these laws are as well enforced as any statutes in 
Texas. Very few saloons are ever open on Sunday, and all 
close their doors promptly at 9:30 p. m. No liquor can be 
sold on any railroad train in Texas ; nor can it be drunk ex- 
cept in violation of the law. C. O. D. shipments into "dry" 
territory are forbidden by law. A number of interesting 
incidents have occurred during the years of liquor agitation 

410 



PROHIBITION AND LOCAL OPTION 411 

in Texas. In 1854 a law was passed forbidding except by 
express county legislation the sale of liquor in less quantities 
than one quart. Of the forty-one counties voting on this 
subject and reporting to the secretary of state only six 
voted for a license for liquor to be sold by the "drink up.'* 
This law, however, was afterward held to be unconstitutional, 
and was not put into effect. 

Among the most fruitful sources of influence that brought 
about the first vote on state-wide prohibition in 1887 was the 
work of the United Friends of Temperance through its 
juvenile branch, the Band of Hope. The boys and girls 
of many thousand communities of Texas were organized 
into groups who sang temperance songs, spoke temperance 
declamations, and gave amateur plays which turned on 
tragedies that grew out of the liquor traffic. The effect of 
the activities of these young people on the public mind was 
tremendous. Largely through the efforts of Mr. E. L. 
Dohoney of Paris, the insertion of a local option law in the 
Constitution of 1875-1876 was secured. The growth of local 
option, however, was slow. The first county to vote favor- 
ably on the question was Jasper, which has ever since re- 
mained *'dry." Jones County in west Texas was organized 
as "dry" territory, and no saloon has ever stood within its 
limits. After an exciting contest, the bitterness of which 
was not entirely wiped out after a decade, the prohibition 
amendment to the constitution was defeated by a majority 
of 91,357 votes. The total vote cast was 359,897. Again 
in 1911 the question was resubmitted to the people when the 
total vote was 468,489. The anti-prohibitionists were again 
victorious, but by a smaller vote, the majority being 6,297. 



412 



THE BOOK or TEXAS 



From 1887 to 1911 local option sentiment fluctuated. 
Many counties, after they had voted against the saloons, had 
great difiiculty in enforcing the laws; then because the law 
could not be successfully enforced, the people would vote 




LOCAL OPTION MAP 
Explanation of Map 
Wliite, all dry, 186 Counties 
Gray, part dry, 49 " 

Black, all wet, 17 " 

Total 252 

back the saloons. At the present time nearly every county 
election (and they are being frequently held) results in 
victory for the prohibitionists. Three-fourths of the people 
in Texas and seven-eighths of the area of the state are under 



PROHIBITION AND LOCAL OPTION 413 

local option laws which are rarely violated. Furthermore, 
by examining the prohibition map of the state it can be seen 
that the "wet" belt extends along the Rio Grande River 
where there is a large Mexican population, and in the cotton 
belt of Texas where there is an excess of negroes. It may 
be added, also, that no county of Texas containing a large 
city has in effect a county local option law. Fort Worth, 
Dallas, Waco, Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, El Paso, and 
San Antonio are all "wet" towns. It now seems probable 
that another prohibition election will be held in 1917. For 
several years the anti-prohibition sentiment has been prin- 
cipally fostered through an organization known as the Anti- 
Saloon League of Texas. Early in 1916 the breweries of 
Texas paid penalties to the state amounting to $281,000 and 
costs on the charges of violating the anti-trust laws and 
using corporate funds to influence an election. 



T 



CHAPTER XI 

women's organizations 

HE Texas Federation of Women's Clubs has a strong 
organization and a numerous membership, as the 
tabulated statement below indicates: 



strict 


Number of 


Number of 


Membership of 




Towns 


Clubs 


Clubs 


1 


39 


79 


2,032 


S 


29 


75 


3,553 


s 


S3 


66 


1,064 


4 


57 


89 


6,073 


6 


45 


92 


1,752 


6 


31 


53 


1,255 



Totals 234 454 15,729 

These figures are taken from the Year Book of 1914-1915 and 
are presented in this form to indicate the system pursued in 
organization, as thorough and far-reaching as the machinery 
of a political party. In the year and a half since the book 
was printed the Club Extension Committee has worked to 
such effect that the individual membership has reached 
20,000. Recently, too, a further perfection of the Federa- 
tion machinery was attained by the completion of the 
$10,000 endowment fund, a monument to the two years' 
administration of the retiring President, Mrs. Henry B. Fall, 
of Houston. 

The history of federated women's clubs in Texas datei 

414 



WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS 415 

from 1897. Until that year, although there were many 
scattered clubs In the state that were naturally allied in in- 
terests, each had stood alone. It is hard to overestimate the 
benefits of cooperation as applied to such problems as the 
marketing of perishable crops and the establishment of rural 
centre high schools, and there is no doubt that the spirit of 
cooperation has been fostered throughout the whole state 
during the past twenty years by the organization for com- 
bined effort epitomized in the Women's Club Federation 
movement. It seems a far call from the readily admitted 
benefits of marketing cooperation to the Federation of a 
group of clubs; however, in each case it is merely a matter of 
breaking down the spirit of suspicion and selfishness and 
greed and the development of the ability to work together 
for the common good. In 1897, then, the Federation of 
Women's Clubs was evolved. Four years later Mrs. Percy 
V. Pennybacker, from the beginning of the club movement a 
vigorous and effective worker in its interest and destined a 
dozen years later to assume national prominence as the 
President of the General Federation of Women's Clubs of 
the United States, became the third president of the state 
organization. In all, ten Texas women have filled this 
honorable and responsible position. 

Under these ten administrations, what has the Federation 
stood for in Texas? As is usually true of the work of 
women, the best results are intangible in character. Broadly 
speaking, besides being an educative force toward coop- 
eration, it may be said that the organized women's clubs 
have been behind every humanitarian law written on the 
statute books for the past twenty years and have lent their 



416 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

best efforts to the betterment of education and to civic 
improvements. Some of these laws they claim as their 
work, since the public opinion that led to their adoption 
was largely of their moulding. The establishment of public 
libraries was the first broad field to occupy their labors, the 
local library being backed by the local women's club, in 
turn aroused and inspired by the Federation; and the estab- 
lishment by law of a State Library Commission and a 
Legislative Reference Library is a further outgrowth of the 
movement for free libraries. In like manner the women's 
clubs stood back of the Juvenile Court Law, the Poll Tax 
Amendment that diverted a per cent, of the poll tax re- 
ceipts to the Common School Fund, the appropriation that 
built the Woman's Building at the University of Texas, 
and the Compulsory Education Law of 1915. More than 
moral suasion was asked of the Federation in the case of 
the establishment of a Girls' Industrial School. When 
the women demanded such a school the legislature replied 
by appropriating $25,000 for such a purpose, contingent 
upon the Federation's raising a like amount. The chal- 
lenge was accepted and the school operates in Texas to-day. 
Meanwhile the education of other than the delinquent 
girl has occupied the attention of the women, and thirty- 
three Federation Scholarships for the aid of girls unable to 
pay for their education are available in twenty-one of the 
state's institutions of higher learning. Home Economics 
Week, a six-day course of lectures on the needs of the home 
and the community conducted by the Domestic Economy 
and the Extension Departments of the State University, 
through the direct cooperation of the organized women's 



WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS 417 

clubs, has been made so successful and so largely attended 
that, after the close of the course in Austin, the week's 
work was repeated in Fort Worth in March and in Dallas in 
April, and in about twenty other smaller cities. 

Such are some of the accomplishments of the Texas 
Federation of Women's Clubs. The principal work now 
projected comprises a state-wide campaign for the better- 
ment of rural conditions. The most valuable service of 
women's clubs is, after all, the enlarged interests brought 
into the lives of the individual membership; and nowhere 
is such service needed as in the country and the small town. 
As a preliminary step toward constructive rural betterment 
work, county federations are now being organized by the 
State Federation; and strong committees are preparing 
to launch through this machinery plans for rural school 
betterment, the building of teacherages, the introduction 
into country homes of labor-saving devices, the promotion 
of good roads, and the establishment of community libraries 
and rest-rooms. 

The woman suffrage cause has many friends in Texas. 
For fifty years lively interest has been manifested by Texas 
women in the movement to secure suffrage for themselves. 
As early as 1866 Mrs. C. M. Wallins, a Texan, spoke before 
the United States Senate on Reconstruction and Universal 
Suffrage, a unique occasion, as it was the first and last time 
a woman has ever been granted a like privilege. And 
although after this, and other early efforts that link the 
names of Texans with the movement, there were many 
years when there was little progress whatever apparent, 
still Texas supporters of votes for women point to a long 



418 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

history of their cause in the state and claim the recent 
wide and rapid-growing pubHc interest as in part the 
cumulative result of labors and propaganda now all but 
forgotten. 

One indication of the strength of any movement is the 
sort of people who lead it. There is a tradition among 
equal suffrage workers at large that any Southern state 
evincing marked activity in securing the ballot for women 
does so under the leadership, not of some one strong woman, 
but of some group of blood sisters of the cryptic number 
three. It was the three Misses Clay that led in the fight 
that made Kentucky the first state to grant any form of 
suffrage to women. In 1898 Louisiana granted a tax- 
payers' franchise to women, due largely to the efforts of 
Miss Kate Gordon and her two sisters. To clinch this 
tradition into little short of a superstition, the advancement 
of the cause in Texas, which national leaders of experience 
are now predicting will be the first Southern state to grant 
women full franchise, owes much to the labors and the gen- 
erous financial support of Miss Annette Finnigan, of Houston, 
and her sisters Miss Finnigan of Houston and Mrs. Fain of 
New York. In pointing out the names of the women whose 
names are linked with the development of the Suffrage organ- 
ization in Texas, perhaps it is well just here to mention Miss 
Eleanor Brackenridge, of San Antonio, and Mrs. Cunning- 
ham, of Galveston. The latter now President and the former 
Honorary President of the Texas Woman Suffrage Associa- 
tion, JNIrs. Mariana Folsom was one of the pioneer suffrage 
lecturers in Texas; and the name of Mrs. Anna E. Walker, 
of Austin, present Treasurer of the State Association, has for 




Old Stvlk 'i'i:.\vs <.\,\ ur House 
Which always stands in at the centre of the town Cleburne, Texas 




NkW TVI'E OF CoNCKETE CoUKT lloUSE, EuiNBUKG, HlUALCiO CoUiNXY 



WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS 419 

years been associated with every step forward that the equal 
suffrage movement has made. 

At intervals since 1866 the fight to gain the ballot for 
women has occupied Texas legislatures and conventions. 
A resolution to grant women full suffrage was lost in the 
constitutional conventions of 1868 and 1875; while measures 
to effect the same end have been introduced, fought out, 
and lost in five different legislative sessions. Two Texas 
United States senators, Hon. J. W. Flanagan in 1875 and 
Hon. Morris Sheppard thirty years later, have worked and 
voted for woman suffrage in the United States Senate. 

Organized state-wide efforts among women to secure 
the ballot for themselves really began in 1912 with the 
formation of a strong Equal Suffrage Society. Largely 
through the Influence of this organization, strong pressure 
was brought to bear on the two succeeding legislatures. 
In 1915 the measure passed to the last reading, in the House 
of Representatives, only to be lost. But as an Indication 
of the strength the movement has gained it is to be noted 
that within the last few years universal franchise has gained 
the endorsement of various Influential organizations: the 
Texas Woman's Press Association, the Texas Farmers' 
Congress, the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs, and the 
State Federation of Labor — the last named making suffrage 
for women one of its five preferred subjects for legislation. 

Since its revival a few years ago, the Texas Woman 
Suffrage Association has grown with great rapidity. It 
now estimates Its membership at 10,000 and its precinct 
clubs at over fifty. Estimates is used advisedly here; for 
with an enthusiastic membership campaign now waging, 



420 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

clubs are being initiated at the rate of one and sometimes 
more daily, and members are signing up too rapidly for the 
central office to furnish an accurate statement of their 
numbers. The immediate aim of the organization, as 
determined at the Executive Board's meeting in January, 
1916, is to devote its whole energy for the time to strength- 
ening its own organization, to securing before the annual 
state convention a capable chairman for each senatorial 
district, a county chairman for each county, and a local 
club in each precinct. For this purpose, two national 
organizers are in the field for the first four months of the 
year; and a number of energetic local chairmen have been 
secured. And until their own forces are thus thoroughly 
organized, the Texas friends of equal suffrage for women 
expect to w^aste no further efforts in vain attempts to effect 
legislation. 

With Texas Dry as its motto, the Woman's Christian 
Temperance Union of the state enters in 1916 its thirty-third 
year of service. In 1882 Miss Frances Willard in a personal 
tour of Texas pioneered for the cause and organized unions 
in a dozen towns, Paris supporting the first local union. 
State organization was effected a year later. These leaders 
of the work thirty years ago found themselves confronted 
with difficulties discouragingly out of proportion to their 
strength, no money, inexperienced leadership, and an in- 
different public with little but pluck and singleness of pur- 
pose to counterbalance them. Pioneer days in any en- 
deavor develop the heroic spirit; and it is not without just 
cause that the names of three Texas women — }Mrs. Jennie 
Bland Beauchamp, Mrs. S. C. Acherson, and Mrs. Helen 



WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS 421 

Stoddard — ^succeeding presidents of the young organization 
from 1883 to 1888, are set into the walls of the Frances 
Willard Memorial Temple in Chicago. It is worth noting, 
also, that during its first decade, in 1888, the Texas W. C. T. 
U. aligned itself with woman suffrage by adopting a resolu- 
tion endorsing universal franchise as the speediest and surest 
method of furthering its own ends. 

The movement thus begun claims in the past third of a 
century to have fathered — mothered, perhaps, is the correct 
term — a group of humanitarian reforms. Quoting H. A. 
Ivy's "History of Prohibition," the organization is respon- 
sible for creating public sentiment and crystallizing it into 
the following laws: 

Raising the age of protection from twelve to fifteen years. 

Scientific temperance instruction law. 

Anti-cigarette law. 

Anti-cocaine law. 

College of Industrial Arts bill. 

The anti-slot machine law. 

The pure food law. 

x4nti-child labor law. 

Anti-card playing law. 

Anti-C. O. D. express liquor law. 

In the work of the Union the negroes of the state have 
shared, under the leadership of Mrs. E. E. Peterson of Tex- 
arkana. 

After the failure to carry state-wide prohibition at the 
polls in 1911, the wearers of the white ribbon badge, though 
somewhat buffeted by defeat, are again actively in the field. 
The state president, Mrs. Nannie Webb Curtis, of Waco, 



422 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

wields official power over 110 local unions with a paid-up 
membership of 3,500, and the treasurer expends annually 
$10,000. Categorically stated, the Texas W. C. T. U. plans 
to work out the following plans: to assist the National Pro- 
hibition Association by giving cash prizes and medals to 
Texas college students for orations and essays on temper- 
ance; to secure circles of ten or more members in each pre- 
cinct; to disseminate information through leaflets, through 
the cooperation of county papers, and through temperance 
libraries of ten books each to be placed in every college 
library in the state, and by sending the official organ to each 
college and public library, to each Y. W. C. A. and Y. M. C. A., 
to the six largest daily newspapers, and to the pastors of 
the seven largest cities of Texas. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE CASE OF THE RAILROADS 

IN THE early days of railroad building Texas was generous 
in land grants, and, in some cases, paid cash subsidies for 
every mile of track laid. Then came the era of one-man 
exploitation and what Mr. Ripley of the Santa Fe called a 
"saturnalia of speculation." To remedy these evils in 
Texas a State Railroad Commission was created and a stock 
and bond law was passed. Later public prejudice was fur- 
ther aroused by the free-pass system and by the discovery 
that many roads were giving rebates to favored shippers. 
Now, when railroad building has stopped in a state that 
must have transportation if it is to go forward, when rail- 
road properties are run down for lack of money to put them 
in good order, relief under existing conditions is difficult to 
obtain, mainly because public opinion is to be reckoned with, 
and, in a democracy, what the people think, even if they 
think without good reason, has great weight with their 
elected officers. Texas railroad managements in the past 
were guilty of unfair practice ; now when the railroads are in 
trouble the people either are indifferent or seem to feel that 
satisfaction that a man enjoys who sees his enemy suffer. 
Many of the big Texas lines, including the Missouri, Kansas 
& Texas Railway Company of Texas; the International & 
Great Northern; the Fort Worth & Rio Grande; the St. 
Louis, San Francisco & Texas, and other Texas railroad cor- 

423 



4^4 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

porations are in the hands of receivers. Few, if any, pay 
dividends to their stockholders; their combined deficits for 
the past four years run thus: 

1912 $3,300,000 

1913 1,600,000 

1914 8,100,000 

1915 6,700,000 

The railroads need money, and they can't get it, for two 
reasons: the Railroad Commission of Texas declines to 
increase the established freight and passenger rates; the 
legislature refuses to modify the laws affecting the issuing 
of stocks and bonds so as to make it possible to secure 
revenue from that source. Meanwhile, the trains run on, 
railroad managements are in despair, and the people don't 
seem to care. The Texas State Tax Board valued in 1914 
the 15,000 miles of railway lines in the state at the total 
of $473,000,000, less by $141,000,000 than the total out- 
standing stocks and bonds and other indebtedness. These 
huge properties in Texas, while the state is generally pros- 
perous, increasing rapidly in wealth and population, are 
making no income that they can share with their stock- 
holders; some cannot pay interest on their bonds and are, 
therefore, being subjected to costly administration under 
the direction of the courts. Some people believe either 
that they are concealing their incomes or that a fair division 
of profits is not being made by the parent roads in cases 
where great trunk lines have branches in Texas. Repre- 
sentatives of the railroads strenuously deny both charges. 
Mr. Hiram Glass, the attorney for all Texas railroad 



THE CASE OF THE RAILROADS 425 

lines with offices at Austin, thus puts the case for the rail- 
roads : 

The reports of the Railroad Commission of Texas show that for 
eight years — 1908 to 1915 inclusive — the railroads of the state have 
suffered a net corporate loss of $20,562,816.55. The average capitali- 
zation per mile of all the railroads in Texas, as shown by the Twenty- 
third Annual Report of the Railroad Commission is: capital stock, 
$8,276, bonds $22,942 per mile of railroad, or an aggregate capital of 
$31,218 per mile, just about one-half of the average capitalization per 
mile of all the roads in the United States. The capitalization of the 
Texas railroads is much less than their value, yet for seven years — 1908 
to 1914 inclusive — they have earned only 3.15 per cent, net operating 
income on their capitalization. This is not cnougli to meet their fixed 
charges, hence the deficit of more than $20,000,000 as a result of eight 
years' operation. This result has been produced by continual reduc- 
tions in freight rates by the Railroad Commission, without foreseeing 
the very substantial and material increased expenses of operation, in- 
creased cost of materials, and especially the increase in the wages of 
employees, the end of which is not yet in sight. 

The Railroad Commission of Texas has always been composed of 
able and patriotic men, with only such training and experience in that 
line of business, however, as they have received after assuming their 
official positions. Results speak for themselves and need no further 
comment. In this connection it is encouraging, however, to note that 
the Railroad Commission of this state has recently shown a more sym- 
pathetic and liberal disposition toward the roads and a broader grasp 
of their responsibilities to the public and the railroads. 

Another handicap that is proving hurtful to the railroads of the state 
is the narrow and illiberal construction given the Texas Stock and Bond 
Law by the Railroad Commission. That law among other things pro- 
vides: "Hereafter no bonds or other indebtedness shall be increased or 
issued or executed by any authority whatsoever, and secured by lien 
or mortgage on any railroad, or part of a railroad or the franchises or 
property appurtenant or belonging thereto, over or above the reason- 
able value of said railroad property; provided, that in case of emergency, 
on conclusive proof shown by the company to the Railroad Commission 
that public interest or the preservation of the property demand it, 
the Commission may permit said bonds, together with the stock in the 



426 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

aggregate, to be executed to an amount not more than 50 per cent, 
over the value of said property." The law further makes it the duty 
of the Railroad Commission to value the railroads of the state, which 
they have done. 

The Commission will not approve and authorize the registration of 
stocks and bonds except upon and to the value of actually completed 
railroad and its proportionate shares of equipment. It seems clear, 
however, that the law above quoted authorizes the issuance of bonds 
secured by lien equal to the reasonable value of the railroad property, 
regardless of the amount of outstanding stock, and in cases of emergency 
may issue bonds, secured by lien, in excess of the value of the railroad 
property, provided such bonds and the outstanding stock is not more 
than 50 per cent, over the value of the property. 

This interpretation of the meaning of the above-quoted provision of 
the Stock and Bond Law operates to the prejudice of the older railroads 
of the state, whose stocks and bonds were issued before the enactment 
of the law in 1893, when the present outstanding bonds mature and 
it becomes necessary to refund. The outstanding stock of such com- 
panies being relatively large limits the amount that can be issued in re- 
funding bonds, in many cases to much less than is desired by good financ- 
ing, or the necessities of the companies and the safeguarding of the 
public. 

The above interpretation of the law also operates to the prejudice of 
companies formed since its enactment, in that the capital stock is 
generally limited to $1,000 per mile, the minimum allowed by law in this 
state, so as to enable the companies to issue bonds secured by a lien 
equal to the entire value of the railroad property, less the $1,000 per 
mile of capital stock. This operates to depress the market for such 
bonds, as it is generally thought desirable, by the purchasers of such 
bonds, that the paid-up capital stock should be in a more reasonable 
ratio to the bonds. 

Under the present ruling of the Commission, no bonds can be issued 
or registered until that part of the road covered by them is actually 
completed and valued by the Railroad Commission. This makes it 
extremely difiicult to finance and build a railroad. It has been sug- 
gested, with much reason, that the companies seeking to build railroads 
into the many sections of the state that are now unprovided with trans- 
portation facilities should be allowed to issue, register, and sell bonds, in 
order to provide a fund for construction, with proper safeguards to in- 
sure the investment of the money for the purposes only of constructing 



THE CASE OF THE RAILROADS 427 

and equipping the railroad. This, it is beheved, would prove a wonderful 
impetus in railroad construction in the state, which now seems to have 
come to a standstill. 

Another law of the state that makes it exceedingly difficult to ob- 
tain money for building new lines of railroad is that provision of the 
statute which makes all subsisting liabilities and claims for debts for 
personal injuries sustained in the operation of the railroad, or by any 
receiver thereof, and for all loss and damage to property sustained in 
the operation of the railroad, or receiver thereof, and for all current 
expenses of such operation, including labor, supplies, and repairs; and 
further providing that all such subsisting claims and liabilities which 
shall have accrued within two years prior to the beginning of receiver- 
ship resulting in the sale of property and franchises, or within two years 
prior to the sale, if the property be sold otherwise than under receiver- 
ship proceedings, or on which suits have been brought within two years, 
superior to all pre-existing mortgage liens on the property. Individuals 
or trust companies with money to loan naturally hesitate to invest that 
money in bonds, although secured by first liens on railroad property, 
when they laiow that all of the above-mentioned unsecured claims, 
which probably might under some circumstances amount to enough to 
absorb the property, will take precedence over the mortgages securing 
the bonds. They naturally look on such mortgages as security that 
does not secure. 

Until railroad construction becomes more inviting, the people who 
need the services of the carriers are much more vitally interested in 
providing proper remedies and encouragement for new construction 
than those having money to invest. Investments can generally be 
found in other lines and are not dependent upon railroads. No com- 
munity, however, can be prosperous without railroad transportation, 
and it would seem, therefore, to be to the interest of the people if their 
representatives in the legislature would give to the subject careful 
thought and conservative but courageous treatment, to the end that 
railroad construction in the state be resumed and those railroads al- 
ready constructed be enabled to give the people better service. 

In other parts of this volume unfriendly critics of the rail- 
road have been quoted. It seems, therefore, only fair to 
allow this great interest to speak for itself. In time Texas will 
solve this problem as it has solved many others. At present 



428 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

prejudices must be overcome, misinformation corrected, sus- 
picions allayed, an open-minded facing of the question en- 
couraged. Politics is here playing with property, and under 
our system of government such a situation seems always at- 
tended by a sea of troubles. 



CHAPTER Xin 

POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERS 

"What are we here for if not the offices?" — Webster Flanagan of Texas in a 
National Republican Convention. 

GOVERNOR O. M. ROBERTS was fond of declar- 
ing that the people of the Republic of Texas be- 
came a state of the United States by free choice, 
and not because they feared they could not maintain the 
independence which Mexico offered to respect. But one 
cannot be sure that the feeling that the Mexicans would 
again be forgetful of the promise of Santa Anna not to 
interfere with Texas was not lurking in many breasts when 
the question of annexation was submitted to a vote in 1845. 
"Annexation is a word of new import in the political vocab- 
ulary of America, to form a subject for the speculation of the 
statesmen and the intellectual labors of the sage," said iVnson 
Jones, the last President of the Texas Republic, in his vale- 
dictory address. "Nations have generally extended their 
dominions by conquest; their march to power involved 
bloodshed and ruin, and their attainment of it was often 
followed by suffering and calamity to a despairing and sub- 
jugated people. It was left to the Anglo-American in- 
liabitants of the Western Continent to furnish a new mode of 
enlarging the bounds of empire by the more natural tend- 
ency and operation of the principles of their free govern- 
ment." 

429 



430 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

Careful readers of Texas history cannot fail to be im- 
pressed with the feeling that annexation to the United 
States — in fact, the entire broad program of Texas 
history until the time of statehood — ^was lurking in the 
minds of many of the early settlers when they came to 
Texas, even extending back to the time when impresario 
grants were being made by the Mexican Government. 
Texans were from the beginning what we would now call 
hyphenated Mexicans; the Mexicans, in fact, first dubbed 
them "Texanos- Americanos." There is a well-known story 
that Sam Houston, when making his first trip to Texas, said 
to a tavern-keeper in Arkansas: "I am on my way to help 
found a new empire in the Southwest." The empire was 
founded, and not many days elapsed after the battle of 
San Jacinto before plans were being made to surrender 
Texas by peaceable assimilation into the Government of 
the United States. At that time only ninety-one Texans 
voted against the proposal to go into the Union, but the 
United States was not ready to adopt the child she had 
helped to set free. 

Texas finally came into the Union with a provision that: 
"New states, of convenient size, not exceeding four in 
number, in addition to said State of Texas, and having 
sufficient population, may hereafter, by the consent of 
said state, be formed out of the territory thereof, which 
shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the 
Federal Constitution." The question of dividing Texas 
has come up for serious discussion among the people a 
number of times. Under the stimulus of legislation adverse 
to a particular section of the state, or through the activities 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERS 431 

of ambitious office-seekers, at times the interests of citizens 
who Hve in west Texas seem to conflict with those who Hve 
in the timbered district of east Texas. Another more 
serious disturbing factor has been the prohibition question. 
North and northwest Texas constitute the "dry" belt of 
the state, while south and southwest Texas, with a large 
percentage of population German, Mexican, and negroes, 
usually vote the anti-prohibition ticket. The negroes and 
the Mexicans are pliant tools for those who wish to retain 
the saloon; the German, splendid citizen as he usually is, 
really wishes his beer and resents interference with his 
European Sabbath. Politicians are always found ready 
to seize on the wishes of the dissatisfied people and pre- 
tend to meet them by multiplying the offices that four 
Texases would create. Contrariwise, the big state edu- 
cational institutions calling their students from every sec- 
tion, and the pride of the people in a state incomparable 
in the extent of its territory, are two of the great forces 
tending to combat the disposition which develops at times 
to divide Texas into four states with a line running north 
and south, and another running east and west. The pos- 
sibility seems never to have been discussed to divide Texas 
into the five states allowed by the terms of its admission 
into the Union. 

Throughout the days of the Republic and during the first 
years of statehood there were few political differences in 
Texas. Of course the ambitions of some men came in 
conflict with the ambitions of others, and there were often 
diverse opinions about local policies; but the people of 
Texas were too intent on troubles at home to be much 



432 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

affected by national questions. During the days of the 
RepubHc there was an increasing public debt which served 
as a constant irritant to every administration; the Indians, 
provoked by Mexican leaders who had no love for Texas, 
were on the warpath a large portion of the time; the Re- 
public suffered from invasions from Mexico, and itself 
sent out several retaliatory expeditions; another vexing 
question was the dispute with the United States over the 
boundary between Texas and New Mexico; finally, the 
President of the Republic was ineligible to immediate re- 
election, and the country, therefore, suffered from frequent 
changes of administration. All these troubles, most of 
which were continued through the first period of statehood, 
made Texans think of home and its immediate problems 
rather than pay much attention to those of national im- 
portance. In the early fifties, however, questions involving 
slavery and the integrity of the Union began to gain the 
attention of the public; and in 1855 one of the two Con- 
gressmen elected from the state belonged to the Know- 
nothing party. Immediately prior to the war there were 
sharp political differences in the state over the question of 
secession. Sam Houston, a strong Union man, boldly 
opposed the secession movement, warned the people of 
what would happen, and finally was forced from his posi- 
tion as governor because he would not yield to the over- 
whelming desire of Texas to leave the Union. 

When the Civil War came, Governor Roberts says, "every 
one enlisted except the very old men, the lame, the blind, 
the disabled, with some doctors and preachers, and officers 
of the state." 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERS 433 

During the war, naturally, there was but one party in 
Texas, just as there is only one party of any considerable 
influence in Texas to-day. The Democratic majorities in 
Texas are as large and as sure as the Republican majorities 
in Pennsylvania. When the war ended and the ballot was 
put into the hands of the negro, the Republican party, 
under the leadership of Union sj^mpathizers and the carpet- 
bag element that flowed into the state, came into power, 
J. W. Throckmorton defeated E. M. Pease for Governor in 
1866 by a large majority. Throckmorton was, however, 
removed from office as "an impediment to reconstruction." 
At the next election, in 1869, all Confederate soldiers and 
officeholders during the Civil War had been disfranchised, 
and two Republicans, E. J. Davis and A. J. Hamilton, 
opposed each other for Governor. Four years later Richard 
Coke, a Democrat, defeated Davis by fort}^ thousand 
majority. Davis refused to submit to the election, and 
appealed for aid to President Grant. Coke and his friends 
took forcible possession of the upper floor of the Capitol 
Building, while Davis and a company of negro troops oc- 
cupied the lower floor. For a short time, then, Texas had 
two Governors. About this time Judge Hardin Hart of 
Greenville, a somewhat noted character of those days, was 
serving as district judge. Wishing to leave the office, he 
sent in his resignation to both Governor Davis and Governor 
Coke, remarking to a friend, "If that ain't enough to kiver 
the case, I'll send 'em duplicates." 

Governor Davis had been a Federal officer during the 
Civil War, and was in entire sympathy with the Reconstruc- 
tion element in power at Washington. Backed by a strong 



434 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

military force in Texas, he appointed while Governor 9,500 
people to office, many of them illegally. There was a reck- 
less expenditure of money and an equally reckless issuance 
of bonds, amounting to $3,000,000, drawing a high rate of 
interest. More over, the ill-feeling aroused by him produced 
feuds in many parts of the state, and the present unpopul- 
arity of the Republican party in Texas and the small vote it 
still receives dates from the Civil War and from Recon- 
struction days, particularly the latter period. In 1880, it is 
true, Mr. Davis received 64,000 votes for Governor against a 
vote of 166,000 for O. M. Roberts. Since that time, how- 
ever. Republicanism in Texas seems to have been largely an 
organization preserved for the purpose of securing jobs in the 
Federal service when a Republican national administration 
is in power. On several occasions the Republicans have 
combined with the Populist party or the Greenback party in 
an effort to defeat the Democrats. At one time during 
recent years the Republicans split into two parties — one 
known as the "Lily Whites," because they refused to admit 
negroes into their conventions, and the other known as the 
"Black and Tans," because of a more liberal attitude toward 
the colored man. Under a Republican President many 
prominent Republicans of the state who cared for public 
office have been accommodated. A young college man in ex- 
plaining to a close friend his change to Republicanism said: 
"Frankly, I wish to hold a Federal position; my chances of 
securing it seem much more likely as a Republican." The 
largest vote polled by any Republican candidate since the 
war was that of John M. Simpson of Dallas, his vote being 
73,000 out of a total of 300,000 votes cast. 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERS 435 

The Democratic party held its first state convention in 
1857. Two years later, however, Sam Houston, running as 
an independent, was elected over a regular Democrat. Sam 
Houston, with the exception of Joseph W. Bailey, has the 
distinction of being the only Texan who has ever been prom- 
inently mentioned for President, running in the Convention 
of 1860 a close second to Bell, the nominee of the Constitu- 
tional Union branch of the Democratic party. At times 
since the war Democratic rule has been seriously threatened 
by the Populist party. In the election of 1896, for example, 
Jerome C. Kerbey of Dallas received a vote of 238,000, only 
50,000 less than the Democratic candidate, Charles A. 
Culberson. At this election the largest vote ever cast in the 
state was recorded — 540,000. Under the present primary 
law in Texas candidates are weeded out to one representative 
from each party during the summer; as a consequence, 
many more votes are polled at the primaries than on election 
day in November. In 1906, for example, only 184,000 
ballots were cast out of a possible 600,000. 

It is manifestly impossible to review here the successive ad- 
ministrations in Texas. Only the work of a few of the later 
Governors — men of outstanding ability and strong enough 
to put through constructive policies — may be briefly referred 
to. Richard Coke found the state in 1873 in disorder, over- 
run with lawless men, broken up by feuds, and its public 
affairs a pitiful wreck financially. His rangers killed or put 
in jail the lawless, broke up the feuds, and improved frontier 
conditions. The expenses of the government were cut 
down, and the way was prepared for O. M. Roberts, who be- 
came Governor in 1878. His rigid economies, inflexible de- 



436 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

termination to keep out of debt, and boldness in buying up 
state bonds at a high premium and refunding them with 6 
per cent, bonds, provoked violent criticism at the time, but 
has brought him fame in later years. The work of James S. 
Hogg has been mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Sur- 
rounded by a group of department heads who were his strong 
friends and whom he organized into a cabinet, a man of the 
people who was the father of a number of constructive 
laws for their benefit, his career as Governor from 1891 to 
1895 is probabl}^ the most noteworthy in the political his- 
tory of the state. "When he was in the heat of battle over 
his different measures," says a prominent Texan, "I did 
not agree with him. Time has convinced me that as to all 
of them he was right." Through his influence bulwarks 
were erected against frenzied finance, greed, and graft, that 
will be as enduring as the gratitude of the people whom he 
unselfishly served. Charles A. Culberson, who followed 
Governor Hogg, was a man of brilliant mind, a careful exec- 
utive, a good financier, who paid much more attention to de- 
tail than his predecessor in office. Although distinctly con- 
servative, he was the first Governor bold enough to veto an 
entire appropriation bill which he thought excessive. Fur- 
thermore, his daring to call a special session of the legislature 
to stop the Corbett and Fitzsimmons prize fight on Texas 
soil brought him into national attention, won thousands of 
supporters in Texas, and made it easy for him to defeat for 
the United States Senatorship (an office which he still holds) 
such older and better known men as John H. Reagan and 
Roger Q. Mills. 

Several of the first group of Governors who served Texas 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERS 437 

were prominent in the war with Mexico. The Civil War, 
likewise, gave prominence and popularity to a second and 
larger group, the last of whom was S. W. T. Lanham of 
Weatherford. Texas will not likely again have another 
ex-Confederate in high public office. 

Space forbids extended mention of the men who have 
represented Texas in the National Congress. Roger Q. 
Mills, John H. Reagan, Richard Coke, Charles A. Culberson, 
J. AV. Bailey, and others have been as highly esteemed in 
Washington as in Texas. Of A. W. Terrell, Minister to 
Turkey during Cleveland's administration, Attorney-Gen- 
eral Gregory says; "He is in my judgment the greatest of 
all lawmakers in our state. Among the things he accom- 
plished was the perfection of the jury system under chaotic 
conditions after the war; legislation creating the University 
of Texas ; legislation relating to the construction of the state 
capitol, and the proper support of the eleemosynary in- 
stitutions of the state. He was unquestionably the fore- 
runner of all as to the railroad commission and in the matter 
of regulating corporations." 

The last two Governors of Texas, Thomas M. Campbell 
and Oscar B. Colquitt (one "pro," the other "anti"), are 
now candidates against each other for the United States 
Senate. Both men are running on their records as Governor. 
During Governor Campbell's administration a "full rendi- 
tion" tax law was passed which, depending largely on lower 
officials for enforcement, has not brought the results its 
author hoped. Another law making for the first time the 
intangible property of railroad corporations subject to taxa- 
tion has added many millions of dollars to the tax rolls. The 



438 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

anti-free-pass law, so long advocated by Governor Hogg, was 
enacted, as was likewise a statute guaranteeing the deposits 
of state banks. Taking advantage of a huge fine, $1,700,000 
collected from the Waters Pierce Oil Company for violating 
the anti-trust law. Governor Campbell was able to reduce 
the state tax to the lowest point in its history — four cents 
on the hundred dollars. It should be said for Governor 
Colquitt that his two administrations suffered from heated 
discussion growing out of the prohibition question, making 
constructive legislation of great difiiculty. Effective peni- 
tentiary reform had a warm advocate in Governor Colquitt, 
the results being the abatement of the system of leasing con- 
victs, forbidding their whipping, and discontinuing the 
wearing of stripes except as a punishment for the most 
hardened criminals. Under both these men beneficial pub- 
lic school legislation, especially improvement of the rural 
schools, has been brought about. While Mr. Colquitt was 
Governor, a Home for Confederate Women in Austin, to 
supplement the Home for Men, became a charge on the 
state, as well as a Home for Consumptives at Carlsbad. 
More convicts were pardoned by Governor Colquitt than by 
all former Texas Governors. 

The present Governor, James E. Ferguson, illustrates In 
his political career the opportunity afforded in a democracy 
of winning high public office without previous political 
training or prestige. "When he announced his candidacy 
he had few acquaintances outside of his home county. 
He was a successful farmer, stockman, and banker, and 
was elected over Thomas H. Ball, a former member of 
Congress and a lawyer of repute. A tenant law forbidding 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERS 4S9 

landlords to charge rentals amounting to more than one- 
fourth of the cotton and one-third of other crops was passed 
at his suggestion, and is now on trial. 

Among the state's notable jurists is Robert S. Gould, 
who came from the Supreme Court to the University of 
Texas as professor of law; John Hemphill and Royal T. 
Wheeler, judges of the First Supreme Court, who, in the 
language of William H. Burges of El Paso, "served in a 
formative period. They blended the civil law which they 
found here with the common law which the English-speak- 
ing portion of the population of the new state brought here, 
thereby laying the foundation of the system of laws which 
has since prevailed in this state." Mr. Burges goes on to 
say, "Judge J. M. Hurt, as a member of the Court of Crim- 
inal Appeals, probably exercised more influence for good 
in the administration of the criminal laws of this state than 
any man in its history. A great intellect, and unfailing 
courage, and an integrity above question enabled him to 
exercise not only over his associates on the bench but over 
the trial judges, and the entire bar of the state, an influ- 
ence that, in my opinion, was all for good." To which 
Attorney-General Gregory adds: "Judge Stay ton was 
a judge pure and simple, and in later years did more 
to sustain the dignity of our courts than any man since 
Roberts, and as much as any man who ever sat upon the 
bench." 

Judge Ben H. Rice, of the Court of Civil Appeals of 
the Third Judicial District of Texas, has summarized the 
distinct contributions of Texas to jurisprudence. In addi- 
tion to being the pioneer in homestead legislation, the com- 



440 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

mission form of government for cities, and the stock and 
bond law, Judge Rice says of Texas: 

I also believe that the recent amendment to the Landlord and Tenant 
Act is novel and originated in this State. Its distinctive characteristic 
is to render the rental contract void, forfeit the lien and penalize the 
landlord, if he charges more than one-third of the value of the grain 
and more than one-fourth the value of the cotton raised on the land, 
where the tenant furnishes everything except the land; and where the 
landlord furnishes everything except the labor and the tenant furnishes 
the labor, and the landlord directly or indirectly charges a rental of 
more than one-half the value of the grain and more than one-half the 
value of the cotton raised on said land. 

It is my opinion that Texas was the first common-law state to adopt 
the community property system. Louisiana has a similar law, and so 
has California; but the former has never adopted the common law and 
the latter followed the lead of Texas. It is also believed that we were 
among the first to abolish the distinction between law and equity, and 
administer both in the same court. 

Texas likewise has the distinction of being the first state to abolish 
the common law forms of pleading, and to permit the plaintiff to set 
forth his cause of action, and the defendant his defense, without refer- 
ence to form. 

If not the first, we were among the very first, in 1856, to enact a 
penal code and code of criminal procedure, and to declare thereby that 
in order that the system of penal law in force in this state may bq 
complete within itself, and that no system of foreign laws, written or 
unwritten, may be appealed to, it is declared that no person shall be 
punished for any act or omission, unless the same is made a penal 
offence, and a penalty is affixed thereto by the written law of this state. 

Neither this chapter nor this volume pretends to be 
history. To-day, however, can be understood only in the 
light of the past, and much material of an historical charac- 
ter has therefore been scattered through the foregoing pages. 
The exciting differences leading up to the Civil War with 
its four years of suffering and many years of Reconstruction 




(jIovernoh James Stephen IIogc; (18S)1-189,5) 
Creator of the Texas Railroad Coiniuission and author of tlie Stock and Bond Law 




P/wlograph by IhcJillioHi 

Gov. James E. Fekguson 
"AVlio first brought the evils of tenantry to the attention of the people, who 
enthusiastieally signed the million-dollar ajjpropriation for rural schools, atnl who 
is the only governor of Texas who ever shipped a carload of cat tie to market" 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERS 441 

indignities have been purposely omitted. Other matters of 
considerable importance have also been omitted or merely 
mentioned because there are limits to what may be said in 
one volume. One might fill a book with the story of free 
grass and fence cutting; with the Hogg and Clark campaign; 
with the rise, growth, and dominance of so-called populistic 
doctrines. Interesting developments occurred in Texas 
even during the period of legislative quiet while Joseph D. 
Sayers and S. W. T. Lanham were governors. Something 
might have been written about Texas drouths and rain- 
makers; more about great fires and storms and floods; more 
about legislation both wise and unwise. Pessimistic at- 
tention might have been directed to a false point of view 
that has left malaria and hookworm and patent medicines 
unregulated by law and filled the statute books with tick 
eradication, pure fertilizer, and stock feed control legislation. 
But inclination and the orders of the publishers both conjoin 
in making the " Book of Texas " optimistic. The spirit of 
Texas is yet buoyant, youthful, courageous, though there 
be some unworthy pages in its short history. It is ours to 
leave these pages partly unopened. 

As to the future, if additional capital is not secured 
through the removal of the bar in the Robertson Law, in- 
surance money will come from other sources. The oppor- 
tunities for acquiring wealth in Texas must prove attractive 
to investors. Railroad building will continue and the rates 
so modified that this great civilizing force will be allowed a 
reasonable return on investments. Rural life will be made 
more attractive through the building of good roads, sadly 
needed throughout the state. Already many counties arc 



442 THE BOOK OF TEXAS 

issuing road bonds and a few are fairly well equipped with 
well-kept public highways. The state will probably find a 
way to aid the counties in road building. In 1857 Texas 
appropriated $300,000 for river and harbor improvements. 
Nowadays millions come almost every year from the United 
States, much of it for deepening the harbors at Port Arthur, 
Aransas Pass, and Galveston, though large sums go for im- 
proving rivers that many people believe will never be navi- 
gable. Houston a few years ago paid half the bill for cutting 
the Ship Channel, and now Dallas proposes a similar 
arrangement if the National Government will continue its 
efforts to open the Trinity to water traffic. 

At present all state higher educational institutions are 
supported by a biennial appropriation from the legislature. 
At some time, though it may be in the far future, the people 
will vote upon themselves a tax sufficient to care properly 
for these institutions, and counties will be allowed to tax 
themselves so that every rural school may have a six months' 
term. Many intelligent men claim that the constitution of 
1876, under which the state is still operated, is an outworn 
document, some of its provisions obsolete, others inconsis- 
tent with each other, many not enforced even in spirit. It 
is likely that the demand for a new constitution will grow 
and that needed laws, now impossible to secure by direct 
legislation, will come all in a lump through a new constitu- 
tion better fitted to modern conditions. Meanwhile, Texas 
will continue to grow, and Texans will forever continue to be 
proud of their state. As an old frontier song says: 

"Whiskey is whiskey, any way you mix it; 
And Texas is Texas, any way you fix it." 



POLITICS AND POLITICAL LEADERS 443 



^ WHERE THE WEST BEGINS 

Out where the handclasp is a Httle bit stronger, 
Out where the smile lasts a trifle longer — 

That's where the West begins. 
Out where the sun shines a trifle brighter, 
Where the snows that fall are a trifle whiter. 
And the bonds of home are a wee bit tighter — 

That's where the West begins. 



Out where the sky is a trifle bluer, 

Where friendships formed are somewhat truer — 

That's where the West begins. 
Out where a fresher breeze is blowing, 
. Where there is laughter in every stream that's flowing, 
Where there is more of reaping and less of sowing — 

That's where the West begins. 



Out where the world is in the making. 

Where fewer hearts with despair are breaking — 

That's where the West begins. 
Where there's more of singing and less of sighing, 
WTiere there's more of giving and less of buying, 
And a man makes friends without half trying — » 

That's where the West begins. / 



THE END 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 

It is both a duty and a pleasure to acknowledge much help from 
printed pages and from people in the preparation of this volume. Books, 
magazines, pamphlets, newspapers, and leaflets have been consulted, and 
various persons have aided by word of mouth and by letter. In particu- 
lar, the illustrations are due to the generosity of many. The non- 
technical character of the] book renders unnecessary a formal bibliog- 
raphy. To the references made in the text it is a pleasure to add 
the names of those who through their published writings, their personal 
letters, or their spoken words have helped: 

Professor J. B. Bagley, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas 

Vernon Bailey, U. S. Department of Agriculture 

Dr. E. C. Barker, University of Texas 

H. B. Beck, University of Texas 

C. P. Benedict, Midland, Texas 

Adolph Boldt, Houston, Texas 

Dr. W. L. Bray, Syracuse University 

J. B. Carrington, San Antonio, Texas 

R. B. Creager, Brownsville, Texas 

C. M. Cureton, Assistant Attorney-General of Texas 

F. W. Davis, Texas Commissioner of Agriculture 

Walter Dealey, Dallas News, Dallas, Texas 

James E. Ferguson, Governor of Texas 

H. E. Fitzgerald, University of Texas 

Fort Worth Board of Trade, Fort Worth, Texai 

E. S. Gassett, National Bank Examiner 

R. A. Greer, Beaumont, Texas 

C. G. Haskell, U. S. Irrigation Survey 

Colonel F. P. Holland, Editor Farm and Ranch, Dallas, Texas 

Rev. H. G. Horton, Seguin 

Dean E. J. Kyle, Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas 

S. C. Lackey, Cuero, Texas 

C. K. Lee, Fort Worth, Texas 

447 



448 APPENDIX 

Dr. E. T. Miller, University of Texas 

W. E. Leonard, University of Texas 

Dr. I. M. Lewis, University of Texas 

Major George W. Littlefield, Austin, Texas 

R. O. McCormick, Fort Worth, Texas 

William Morgan, Galveston, Texas 

Professor J. C. Nagle, Chairman Texas State Board of Water Engineers 

J. P. Nash, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas 

Rufus J. Nelson, Fariii and Ranch, Dallas, Texas 

The Texas Almanac, Dallas News (various editors) 

W. M. Odell, Cleburne, Texas 

R. D. Parker, Expert Engineer, Texas Railroad Commission 

John S. Patterson, Commissioner of Banking 

President W. B. Phillips, Colorado School of Mines 

Professor C. S. Potts, University of Texas 

Fred C. Proctor, Beaumont, Texas 

W. F. Shaw, Mercedes, Texas 

George Finley Simmons, Houston, Texas 

Dr. F. W. Simonds, University of Texas 

John Lang Sinclair, Artesia Wells, Texas 

W. G. Sterett, Dallas Neivs, Dallas, Texas 

Arthur Stiles, Texas State Reclamation Engineer 

David S. Switzer, Oak Cliff, Dallas, Texas 

Dean T. U. Taylor, University of Texas 

Professor W. S. Taylor, University of Texas 

R. E. Tomason, El Paso, Texas 

Parker Trask, Corpus Christi, Texas 

Dr. J. A. Udden, Director Bureau of Economic Geology, University of 

Texas 
George S. Wehrwein, University of Texas 
F. C. Weinert, Austin, Texas 
E. P. Wilmot, President Austin National Bank 
E. W. Winkler, Reference Librarian, University of Texas 



